This exhibition pairs three paintings by Johannes Vermeer (A Maid Asleep, Allegory of the Catholic Faith, Young Woman with a Lute) with three by Berthe Morisot (The Pink Dress, Young Woman Knitting, Young Woman Seated on a Sofa) to explore how images of women in everyday spaces shift from the Dutch Golden Age to late-19th-century France. Across these works, women appear in rooms, on sofas, and in gardens—always near furniture, fabrics, and familiar objects—but the mood and meaning of those settings change dramatically over time.
Vermeer’s paintings stage women in carefully constructed interiors where objects carry clear symbolic weight. The carpet, wine jug, and half-open door in A Maid Asleep, the globe, chalice, and crucifix in Allegory of the Catholic Faith, and the map and lute in Young Woman with a Lute all suggest that a woman’s inner life is defined—and limited—by larger structures of trade, religion, and geography. His smooth surfaces, crisp edges, and controlled light keep the spaces stable and ordered, as if the setting itself disciplines the figure.
Morisot, by contrast, uses loose brushwork, broken color, and dissolving edges so that the women seem to blend with sofa cushions, dresses, and surrounding greenery. In her paintings, the boundary between interior and exterior softens; domestic space spills out into the garden and feels airy, transient, and emotional. Together, these works ask how much a setting can confine women—and how much it can become a place where they author and express their own presence.
A Maid Asleep, Johannes Vermeer, 1656-1657, Oil on Canvas, 34 1/2 x 30 1/8 in.
Vermeer shows a young maid slumped at a table, hand propping her head, eyes closed beside a wineglass,
fruit, and a richly patterned carpet. The door behind her opens onto an empty back room, so we feel as if
we’ve arrived just after something has happened and just before she wakes up. Domestic objects are sharply described; the woman herself is still and vulnerable, caught in a moment of inattention. In this exhibition, the painting represents an earlier, tightly controlled vision of women’s interior lives: watched, judged, and surrounded by things that hint at moral stories. Later works by Morisot will loosen this control, keeping the quiet but shifting the power of looking.
Allegory of the Catholic Faith, Johannes Vermeer, 1670-1672, Oil on Canvas, 45 x 35 in.
Here Vermeer turns from everyday domestic life to overt religious symbolism. The woman no longer looks casually absorbed in a task; she personifies the Catholic Church itself, posed almost like a statue. Her foot rests on a glass globe, a sign of the Church’s reach across the world, while the stone block crushing a snake in the foreground dramatizes the defeat of evil. Behind her, a Crucifixion painting and the chalice, missal, and crucifix on the table make the room feel like a hidden chapel. Compared with Morisot’s more relaxed female sitters, this figure shows a woman’s body being used to embody doctrine and institutional faith.
Young Woman with a Lute, Johannes Vermeer, 1662-1663, Oil on Canvas, 20 1/4 x 18 in.
In this painting, Vermeer shows a young woman pausing as she tunes her lute, her body turned toward the window while her gaze drifts outward. Light pours in from the left, glazing her face and sleeves but leaving much of the room in shadow. Behind her hangs a large map, so the quiet domestic space is literally backed by the wider world. Music hints at harmony and desire, yet the interrupted action suggests waiting or uncertainty. Like A Maid Asleep, this work stages a woman at the threshold between household duties and interior longing. Her absorbed, sideways glance anticipates Morisot’s later sitters, who also inhabit everyday settings while mentally reaching beyond them.
The Pink Dress, Bertha Morisot, 1870, Oil on Canvas, 21 1/2 x 26 1/2 in.
Morisot shows a young bourgeois woman sitting in a pale sofa, wrapped in a frothy pink dress. Her relaxed pose—one arm draped over the cushion, the other falling into her lap—and her steady, slightly amused gaze make her feel present and alive, not frozen like a formal society portrait. Loose, flickering brushstrokes keep the surface in motion; shadows are thinned out so that light seems to dissolve solid forms. After Vermeer’s carefully constructed interiors, this painting introduces a more unstable, modern domestic space, where a woman’s inner life is suggested less by symbolic props than by color, gesture, and the very act of painting itself.
Young Woman Knitting, Bertha Morisot, 1883, Oil on Canvas, 19 3/4 x 23 5/8 in.
Morisot’s Young Woman Knitting shifts Vermeer’s quiet interiors into an Impressionist garden, but the focus on a woman absorbed in thought remains. The figure’s face is loosely brushed and partly hidden by her hat, so we never get a clear portrait; instead, we notice the repetitive motion of her hands and the soft blur of the world around her. The empty chair beside her echoes Vermeer’s empty rooms and closed doors, suggesting distance between sitter and viewer. Yet Morisot’s broken brushstrokes and bright outdoor light make that distance feel more open, as if the woman’s inner life is expanding into the surrounding space. Paired with Vermeer’s controlled, geometric compositions, this painting shows how later women artists keep the theme of female interiority but loosen the edges, letting privacy coexist with movement, air, and change.
Young Woman Seated on a Sofa, Bertha Morisot, 1879, Oil on Canvas, 31 3/4 x 39 1/4 in.
In this painting, a young woman sinks into a flowered sofa, framed by a doorway that opens onto a lush garden. Nothing dramatic happens; the subject is simply being looked at—and knows it. Her relaxed pose, slightly tilted head, and half-smile turn domestic leisure into an active moment of self-presentation. Loose, broken brushstrokes dissolve edges so that figure, furniture, and foliage seem to shimmer together, unlike Vermeer’s sharply outlined interiors. This soft merging of body and setting suggests that identity here is less fixed and more responsive to light, air, and mood. Placed late in this exhibition, the work shows how Morisot transforms Vermeer’s controlled rooms into spaces where women’s presence feels more spontaneous, embodied, and free.
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