Mother Playing with Child

Mary Cassatt

circa 1897

Mother Playing with Child by Mary Cassatt, circa 1897

Mary Cassatt captures a quiet, tender moment in the garden here, using soft, chalky strokes that feel almost like a warm breeze. The mother, dressed in a striking blue jacket, leans in closely to her toddler, who is busy examining a small yellow object in their hands. Cassatt, an American expat in Paris, was the only American invited to exhibit with the French Impressionists, and she made the 'private lives of women'—specifically mothers and children—her signature subject. Unlike the party scenes of her peers, she found profound beauty in the everyday intimacy of childcare.

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