The Cradle is an oil painting produced in 1872 by French painter Berthe Morisot.
With The Cradle painting, Berthe Morisot was the first woman to exhibit this painting in 1874 at Impressionist exhibition.
The Cradle was regarded as one of the most famous paintings that Berthe Morisot has ever made. It was painted in 1872 in Paris. This painting contains two females one was Berthe Morisot sister and the other was her own daughter. One was Edma who was watching over her younger daughter Blanche. The Cradle was the first impression of motherhood painted by Berthe Morisot and also became later her favorite subject. She continued learning from other impression paintings which interested her to capture and paint the essence of the modern women. When she showed her painting at the exhibition, it scarcely noticed among others. Several critics commented on this painting about its elegance and grace.
Berthe Morisot made her sister Edma modeled for her painting in 1872. The born child was Morisot’s niece. Morisot focused the day to day life activities when painting about the motherhood and the love to her children’s. In this picture, Morisot focuses on the genuine absorption of Mother’s attention even when she was sleeping, to her child well-being.
The picture shows deep meaning to mother’s gaze bent left arm and the child arm which seems to be a mirrored image and her closed eyes. All these things were forming a diagonal line which was further noticed to viewer’s eyes by the movement of the curtain shown in the background above the child’s image. The dimensions of the paintings were 56 cm × 46 cm.
The work can be viewed at Musée d’Orsay, Paris