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MORISOT RETROSPECTIVE EXTENDED SIX MONTHS

BOSTON – The Museum of Fine Arts announced yesterday that it will extend its blockbuster show of Berthe Morisot’s works for an additional six months.

At the end of its Boston engagement, the retrospective will embark on a yearlong tour, including stops in Paris, Tokyo and Dubai, after which Party on the Seine will return to the MFA as part its permanent collection.

“This extension, as well as the excitement for the worldwide tour, is validation of the brilliance of Berthe Morisot, who never before received the recognition she deserves as an Impressionist painter equal to Monet, Degas, Renoir and Manet, her friends and colleagues,” said Tamara Rubin, cofounder and director of the Berthe Morisot Foundation.

Rubin is a descendant of Morisot and the previous owner of Party on the Seine , the centerpiece of the current show.

Once the tale of the misattributed lost masterpiece—along with allegations of a scandalous love affair and an illegitimate child—became public, interest in Party on the Seine drove its price to unheard of heights for a Morisot, although Rubin sold it to the MFA for far less than an anonymous buyer offered.

“I wanted Party to be shared,” she said. “And now it will be.”