''Repose'' (French: ''Le Repos'', 'Rest') is a c.1871 oil on canvas painting by

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

, now in the

Rhode Island School of Design Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877, and still shares multiple build ...

. The painting is a portrait of the artist

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...

, who was married to Manet's brother Eugène, resting on a sofa beneath a then fashionable Japanese print (in this case by

Utagawa Kuniyoshi Utagawa Kuniyoshi ( ja, 歌川国芳, ; January 1, 1798 – April 14, 1861) was one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al'' (2005). "Kuniyoshi" in He was a ...

). There is a striking contrast between the light tone of her dress and dark tones of the furniture and the serenity of the subject with the violent activity on the print above her head. Manet himself described the work as a study in physical and psychological repose — “not at all in the character of a portrait.”

References

{{19C-painting-stub 1871 paintings Paintings by Édouard Manet Collection of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum