Berthe Morisot vs Dmitri Shostakovich
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Berthe Morisot | Dmitri Shostakovich | |
| Field | Art | Music |
| Sub-field | Painting | Composer |
| Born | 1841 | 1906 |
| Died | 1895 | 1975 |
| Country of birth | France | Russia |
| Star sign | Capricorn | Libra |
Who they are
Berthe Morisot
Berthe Morisot was not admitted to the movement — she helped found it. While the history books have sometimes cast her as Manet's muse or as a remarkable exception to a male world, the truth is simpler and more radical: she was one of the best painters of her generation, and her colleagues knew it. Degas said she painted with flowers, a remark that sounds like condescension but was intended as admiration for her extraordinary lightness of touch. Manet repainted his own compositions after studying hers. She showed in seven of the eight Impressionist exhibitions,…
Full biography of Berthe Morisot →
Dmitri Shostakovich
In January 1936, Josef Stalin attended a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Bolshoi Theatre and left before the final act. Two days later, Pravda published an unsigned editorial — almost certainly authorized at the highest level — titled "Muddle Instead of Music." The article attacked the opera as "formalist" and "bourgeois," its dissonances described as deliberate assaults on Soviet socialist culture. Shostakovich was twenty-nine years old, the most celebrated composer in the Soviet Union, and now suddenly in danger. He had a new symphony nearly finished —…
Full biography of Dmitri Shostakovich →
What they share
- Both are documented on this site with a verified biography.
Where they part
- Different fields: Art for Berthe Morisot, Music for Dmitri Shostakovich.
- Born in different countries: France and Russia.
- 65 years separate their births (1841 and 1906).
- Their lifetimes never overlapped.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Berthe Morisot or Dmitri Shostakovich?
- Berthe Morisot. Berthe Morisot was born in 1841, Dmitri Shostakovich in 1906.
- What field is each of them in?
- Berthe Morisot is filed under Art (Painting). Dmitri Shostakovich is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- No - their lifetimes do not overlap.