View of Paris from the Trocadero
This landscape painting by Morisot is a rare example of her work in this genre. Completed shortly after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, it portrays a peaceful Paris as seen from the Trocadero hill. The Champ-de-Mars, which was previously the site of the bustling 1867 Exposition Universelle, is now barren and brown. The gray sky hints at the tumultuous events of the past five years, including the war and the fall of Napoleon III's Second Empire. Three figures in the foreground, likely Morisot's sisters and niece, are separated from the cityscape by a dark fence, suggesting the exclusion of bourgeois women from everyday life and professional opportunities. Despite this, the ground beneath their feet would be massively redeveloped just six years later for the 1878 Exposition Universelle.
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