This essay will compare and contrast two works of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art that raise the question of the role of gender in art. The first is an oil on canvas by Edgar Degas, A Woman Seated Next to a Vase of Flowers, painted in 1865. The second is that of Berthe Morisot, Young Woman Seated on a Sofa painted around 1879, also oil on canvas . These two works of art have similarities in subject matter and composition; they both contain a seated woman and flowers. Their differences, however, give the impression that the two paintings hardly deal with the same subject. The differences between Degas's A Woman Seated Next to a Vase of Flowers and Morisot's The Young Woman Seated on a Sofa are indicative not only of how different Impressionists depicted the same subject in different ways, but, more importantly , from the way in which the gender of the artist affected the depiction of women in their paintings, that male artists tended to show women in a way that suggested decoration, rather than actual entities in the world that they occupied. One of the first things one notices when looking at these paintings is the differences in the application of paint, as Degas's painting appears carefully controlled unlike Morisot's which appears more spontaneous. In Degas's painting, the brushstrokes are controlled and deliberate, particularly with regard to the flowers in the vase. Degas clearly put a lot of effort into making the flowers as detailed as possible, both in shape and texture. Even in places where the brushstrokes have a "sketchy" quality (notably in the woman's outfit), the sketch is a deliberate contour line. In Morisot's painting, on the other hand, the brushstrokes are much looser and more faithfully represent...... middle of paper ......k. She exists to balance the composition, the colors of her clothes balance the fabric on the table and the color of her hat balances the flowers. Her presence blocks the door behind her, allowing Degas to add a window without having to worry about the viewer's gaze lingering on the flowers. She is too distant for the viewer to hope for interaction. This can lead the viewer to perceive her as an afterthought, as her existence in the painting seems completely insignificant. Meanwhile, Morisot's painting not only allows the woman to interact with us, but also gives her control of the viewer's presence through the use of the fan. While there are certainly decorative elements in her (the pale blue of her dress balances the blue of the door behind her), this is clearly not her only role in the composition. In these circumstances, it makes all the difference.