JULIE MANET, THE VALUE OF TRANSIENCE, AND THE AVANT-GARDE Colleague Sebastian Smee. Berthe Morisot's legacy was carried on by her daughter, Julie Manet, to whom Berthe wrote a tender deathbed letter expressing that Julie had provided her solely with happi

JULIE MANET, THE VALUE OF TRANSIENCE, AND THE AVANT-GARDE Colleague Sebastian Smee. Berthe Morisot's legacy was carried on by her daughter, Julie Manet, to whom Berthe wrote a tender deathbed letter expressing that Julie had provided her solely with happiness. Morisot's work exemplifies the concept of "transience value"—the idea, later articulated by Freud, that the fleeting nature of beauty makes it more precious. Her paintings of adolescents and domestic scenes celebrated the present moment precisely because it was always changing. While the next generation of the avant-garde, such as Van Gogh and Munch, reacted against Impressionism's lack of structure, they built directly upon its liberation of color. Although these newer artists sought more permanence, the Impressionist dedication to capturing fugitive effects proved to have lasting power, validating Morisot's vision of finding profound truth in the ephemeral. NUMBER 8
1925