October 17, 2026–January 10, 2027
Enter in Taylor Hall, East Building
Gallery 247
Landscape painting played a central role in the careers of women Impressionist artists in France in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. During a time of great social change and growing environmental awareness, women Impressionists connected their artistic practices to ecological and feminist ideas, demonstrating humans’ interconnected relationships with the natural environment, while also challenging gender norms. This exhibition explores the role of landscape imagery in the work of Louise Abbéma, Rosa Bonheur, Marie Bracquemond, Mary Cassatt, Blanche Hoschedé-Monet, Élodie La Villette, Berthe Morisot, and Edma Morisot.
Women artists faced many professional and social barriers, such as limitations on travel and access to artistic training, and biased critical reception. In response, they established formal and informal professional networks to cultivate their techniques and achieve commercial success. They played a prominent role in the Impressionist exhibitions—particularly Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, and Marie Bracquemond—and also showed work at the official Paris Salon.
Varied types of landscapes, from parks and gardens to forests and farms, demonstrate the range of places that inspired these artists. Often, they painted these scenes outdoors, traveling to regions of France beyond Paris, and included women figures as key subjects. Their landscape imagery also became a site for painterly experimentation—bold brushwork, inventive use of color, and innovative compositions. These artists’ engagement with landscape painting elevated the status of women artists and made a crucial contribution to the wider Impressionist movement.
Women Impressionists and the Land is curated by Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art, with Abigail Yoder, curatorial assistant.
The exhibition is sponsored with generous support from the Edward L. Bakewell, Jr. Endowment for Special Exhibitions, the PNC Foundation, and MLC. Additional support provided by The Daniel & Henry Co., Katherine Kreusser Young, and donors to the Plein Air Society.
The Saint Louis Art Museum is generously funded in part by SLAM Members and donors, the citizens of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, and the Zoo Museum District.
Major Sponsors
Edward L. Bakewell, Jr. Endowment for Special Exhibitions
PNC
MLC
Supporting Sponsors
The Daniel & Henry Co.
Katherine Kreusser Young
Plein Air Society
Jean Daniel-Gentry and Hal Gentry
Dentons US LLP
Dede Farquhar
Graybar
Greg and Becky Smith Family Foundation
Susan E. Stiritz
Help us care for the artworks.
Even gentle contact can cause damage. To preserve these original works of art, please do not touch, and keep a safe distance.
Rosa Bonheur, the Morisot Sisters, and the Salon in the 1860s
On view in this gallery are works by artists who exhibited landscape paintings at the Paris Salon. Across the 19th century, women showed their work at the Salons, which were the most important exhibiting space for artists at the time. Their participation raised the professional status of women artists, despite women being prevented from training at the official École des Beaux-Arts.
Rosa Bonheur was a key figure in gaining recognition for women artists. She received high praise from critics for her animal paintings and landscapes and was internationally acclaimed. Bonheur also challenged social expectations for women at the time. She was openly queer and obtained permits to wear pants, which subverted gender norms and made it easier to paint outdoors. She wrote of her “great and glorious ambition” for women “whose independence I’ll defend till my dying day.”
Bonheur’s success served as an important example for aspiring young women artists such as sisters Berthe and Edma Morisot, who showed regularly at the Salons of the 1860s. The Morisot sisters circumvented the barriers facing women artists by working in the studio of Camille Corot, a male painter of the Barbizon School. Their Salon paintings were well-received by critics for their innovative brushwork and ability to capture the moment.
from left to right:
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Washerwoman, c.1863
oil on canvas
Edma Morisot
French, 1839–1921
Ville d’Avray, c.1863
oil on canvas
Collection of Bill Scott 2026.195 and 2026.155
In the 1860s, sisters Berthe and Edma Morisot often painted side by side outdoors. These two works look to be painted at a similar location at Ville d’Avray, the home of their teacher, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Their similar treatment of paint is characterized by vibrant flecks of color and shimmering, glass-like water surfaces. Yet, there are differences, with Berthe using a greater variety of brushwork and color. The two artists also used slightly different signatures, visible at the bottom left of each painting. At this time, both artists spelled their surnames with a z rather than an s, with Edma signing her work E. Morizot and Berthe, simply Morizot.
Edma Morisot
French, 1839–1921
Memory of the Countryside, 1864
oil on canvas
Collection of Bill Scott 2026.154
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Cottage in Normandy, 1865
oil on canvas
Using flickering brushstrokes and shades of green, Berthe Morisot evoked the feeling of sitting in a field at the edge of a grove of birch trees. This painting reflects Morisot’s travels to rural parts of the country, an important part of her career as a landscape painter. This work was likely made in or around Bezeval, a village in Normandy along the English Channel. Morisot exhibited Cottage in Normandy at the Salon of 1866, where it received praise.
Cottage in Normandy remained with Morisot’s descendants until 2020, when it was gifted to the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. It is exhibited here in the US for the first time.
Paris, Musée Marmottan Monet, Anne Rouart bequest, 1993; Inv.2020.1 2026.219
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Study at the Water’s Edge, 1864
oil on canvas
A reclining woman looks down at her reflection in a pond bordered by colorful wildflowers. This is Berthe Morisot’s first landscape with a figure, a genre of landscape painting that became a central part of her artistic practice. Morisot exhibited this work at the 1865 Salon, where it attracted critical praise. Her examination of the theme of water as mirror relates to her interest in women’s self-reflection. Later in her career, she would often represent women in front of mirrors in domestic settings.
Collection of Bonnie Hodes 2026.03
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Old Path at Auvers, 1863
oil on canvas
This small painting was the first work Berthe Morisot exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1864. A woman, perhaps the artist’s sister Edma, sits with her tiny black dog beneath a willow tree. In contrast to her landscape Washerwoman, also on view in this gallery, this work shows the emergence of Berthe’s characteristic feathery brushstroke, which distinguished her practice from that of Edma.
Private Collector, San Francisco 2026.187
Edma Morisot
French, 1839–1921
Women in Woods, 1860–69
oil on canvas
This woodland landscape is characteristic of Edma Morisot’s works from the 1860s, which highlight her deep connection to the woods around Paris. In the painting, two women rest along a path in the woods, lined by trees. Thickly applied paint—or layered impasto—suggests the rugged texture of tree bark, and flecks of red-brown and green evoke foliage. In the 1860s, Edma showed many landscapes at the Paris Salon, which were well received by critics. Following her marriage in early 1869, Edma gradually stopped painting. That year, after moving to Brittany with her husband, she wrote to her sister, “I am often with you, my dear Berthe. In my thoughts, I follow you about in your studio.” Later that year, she wrote, “My passion for painting has not yet left me.”
Gift of Bill Scott in honor of Simon Kelly 42:2026
Rosa Bonheur
French, 1822–1899
from left to right:
Sheep by the Sea, 1865
oil on cradled panel
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay 2026.163
Deer in Repose, 1867
oil on canvas
Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Queene Ferry Coonley 2026.203
Relay Hunting, 1887
oil on canvas
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Justina G. Catlin in memory of her husband, Daniel Catlin 7:1917
These three paintings by Rosa Bonheur highlight her interest in plants and animals. Bonheur’s meticulous treatment of ferns and tree trunks demonstrates her careful study of the natural world, while the inquisitive gaze of the sheep and deer suggest near-humanlike expression. She once wrote, “I became an animal painter because I loved to move among the animals. I would study an animal and draw it in the position it took, and when it changed to another position, I would draw it.”
Bonheur’s paintings of deer and horses record scenes in the Forest of Fontainebleau, 35 miles outside of Paris, close to where she lived from 1859 until her death. She took frequent walks and carriage rides in the forest and painted outside. The painting of sheep is based on a memory of her trip to Scotland in the mid-1850s. It was bought by the French empress Eugénie, signaling prestigious royal support. Bonheur’s images of animals in the landscape also brought her international recognition.
Rosa Bonheur
French, 1822–1899
Palette, 1850s
oil on wood palette
Rosa Bonheur painted a view of a resting deer onto this colorful palette. Bonheur had a menagerie of animals at her home, including lions, sheep, horses, and gazelles. She had a particular interest in painting deer that she saw in the forest on her daily walks. The palette was likely used by the artist for several years before she gifted it to her godson in 1855.
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gift of The Thomas Barlow Walker Foundation 2026.175
Gallery 246
Against the Salon: The Radicalism of Berthe Morisot
During the 1870s, the Impressionists no longer submitted artwork to the official Salon, objecting to the repeated refusals of their works, which were criticized as unfinished and sloppy. Instead, they established a business association known as the Joint Stock Company of Artists, Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc. to exhibit independently. The group held their first exhibition—the first Impressionist show—in 1874. Berthe Morisot helped to organize the exhibition and had a prominent display. In total, she showed at seven of the eight Impressionist exhibitions.
This gallery includes important examples of Morisot’s landscape paintings from across the Impressionist exhibitions. Her paintings received critical attention for their radical technique, with some praising the gestural and protoabstract quality of the brushwork. Yet, her work was often described in gendered terms as “delicate” or “charming,” which undermined the bold inventiveness of her practice. As Morisot wrote, “I don’t think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal, and that’s all I would have asked for—I know that I am worth as much as they are.”
By contrast, artists such as Élodie La Villette continued to exhibit work at the Salon. Her landscapes were frequently purchased by the French state, including the grand-scale marine painting on view in this gallery.
Élodie La Villette
French, c.1842–1917
The Beach of Lohic and Île des Souris [Mouse Island], near Lorient: Slack Tide, 1875
oil on canvas
This painting shows a particular moment when the sea is still, or slack, between high and low tide. Seaweed has been left behind from the previous high tide and sits on the granite coastal rocks of southern Brittany, a region in northwest France. Élodie La Villette lived in Brittany for much of her life and was an avid swimmer, well attuned to the rhythms of the sea. Although she never exhibited with the Impressionists, this painting highlights a shared interest in evoking the play of shimmering light across water.
Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, Besançon 2026.178
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Landscape in the Environs of Valenciennes, 1875
oil on canvas
Berthe Morisot painted this work during a visit to her sister Yves, who lived near the northern French town of Valenciennes. Morisot reduces the landscape to three bands: the foreground area of wheat, the patchwork of fields in the middle ground, and the blue-and-gray sky above. Touches of black and white suggest the presence of horses, signaling the ongoing cultivation of the land.
Private Collection, France 2026.170
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
In the Bois de Boulogne, 1879
oil on canvas
Two women, one seated and one bending over, pick flowers on the edge of a lake in the Bois de Boulogne, the large park on the western edge of Paris. Berthe Morisot’s painting is notable for the highly gestural quality of her paint application. For example, the bending figure’s face is rendered with a few abstract strokes, notably one in red that echoes the flower bouquet held by the seated woman. This painting was one of 10 that she showed at the 1880 Impressionist exhibition, and was arguably the most formally radical of all her works on view.
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden; Gift 1960 Master of Engineering C. B. Nathorst through Nationalmusei Vänner 2026.190
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Young Woman Knitting, c.1883
oil on canvas
The radicalism of Berthe Morisot’s technique is demonstrated in this painting of a seated woman. The figure’s downturned face is rendered in quick, comma-like brushstrokes that abstract her features rather than represent them with precision. The red tones of the woman’s needlework animate the scene and complement the greenery in the background. The location is likely Morisot’s garden. The artist suggests her love of flowers in her rendering of the pink rose blooms.
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876–1967), 1967 (67.187.89) 2026.210
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
The Artist’s Daughter, Julie, with her Nanny, c.1884
oil on canvas
In this portrait, Berthe Morisot painted her daughter, Julie, watching curiously as her nanny does needlepoint. The large window behind the figures opens up to the family’s garden at their Parisian home on the rue de Villejust (now rue Paul Valéry). Morisot’s husband, Eugène Manet, is visible at the center amid the greenery. Morisot’s quick strokes of white highlights convey the intense light pouring in from outside, effectively bringing the outdoors into this interior scene.
Minneapolis Institute of Art, The John R. Van Derlip Fund 2026.211
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Forest of Compiègne, 1885
oil on canvas
In the summer of 1885, Berthe Morisot visited her sister Yves, who lived close to the large forest of Compiègne, some 60 miles to the north of Paris. During this visit, Berthe painted this protoabstract view of the forest, in which she used crisscrossing strokes of green, yellow, mauve, and pink to evoke the undergrowth between grand vertical trees. At left, a woman moves along a path that snakes back into the distance. A tiny touch of red may also suggest the far-off presence of a child.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Bequest of Estelle McCormick 1978.422 2026.177
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
from left to right:
Hanging the Laundry out to Dry, 1875
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.28 2026.205
Landscape at Gennevilliers, 1875
oil on canvas
Private Collection 2026.202
These paintings by Berthe Morisot highlight her interest in the rural landscape surrounding Paris. She focused on two traditional forms of labor: a commercial laundry, with figures hanging white clothes and sheets on lines in a field; and agriculture, with a lone haystack in a green field. In each artwork, factory smokestacks loom on the horizon with plumes of black smoke in the air. By showing these signs of industry within otherwise idyllic green spaces, Morisot calls attention to the growing industrialization of Parisian suburbs and the increasing effects of pollution.
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Reading, 1873
oil on canvas
Berthe Morisot painted her sister Edma reading in a lush, grassy field, overlooking a country road. Edma was interested in contemporary literature, and this casual scene shows her reading on a blanket, her parasol and fan set aside. The field and foliage are made up of quick strokes of green, broken up by touches of red, yellow, violet, and white flowers. These wildflowers are echoed in the floral design on Edma’s dress. Morisot showed Reading at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. It is an important example of her interest in painting women figures in the landscape.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hanna Fund 1950.89 2026.186
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
The Lilacs at Maurecourt, 1874
oil on canvas
In the spring of 1874, Berthe Morisot visited her sister Edma in Maurecourt to the northwest of Paris. Here, she painted this luminous view of Edma with her two young children Jeanne and Blanche. Berthe devotes as much attention to the surrounding garden, with its pink lilacs, green lawn, and flower beds, as she does to the figures. The presence of the hat and umbrella at bottom left may be Berthe’s subtle way of including herself in the composition.
Private Collection 2026.201
Gallery 244A
Marie Bracquemond and Invention Across Media
Marie Bracquemond was one of the three most well-known woman artists to participate in the Impressionist exhibitions, alongside her peers Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt. She showed at three of the exhibitions—in 1879, 1880, and 1886. Particularly notable are her ambitious large-scale paintings, such as Woman in White, on view in this gallery. Bracquemond’s technique is characterized by a skillful use of line and color. She also experimented across many different media, including drawings, watercolors, and ceramics.
In her late teens, Bracquemond moved to Paris and Unknown photographer; Marie Bracquemond, c.1886; Image: Wikimedia Commonsstudied with the prominent academic painter Jean- Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Later, Bracquemond often painted outdoors, particularly around Sèvres to the southwest of Paris, where she lived with her husband, the artist Félix Bracquemond, and son, Pierre. Bracquemond defended Impressionism against the criticisms of her husband by saying “Impressionism has produced . . . not only a new, but a very useful way of looking at things. It is as though all at once a window opens and the sun and air enter your house in torrents.” She traveled extensively around France, painting and drawing outdoors on the coast of Normandy and in the central, mountainous region of Auvergne.
Marie Bracquemond
French, 1840–1916
The Backgammon Players, 1870–75
oil on canvas
Two fashionable young women seated on a blanket enjoy a game of jacquet—a variant of backgammon. The surrounding environment is painted in darkened tones, with dramatic patches of light showing through the trees and reflecting on the water. This moody treatment of the landscape is representative of Marie Bracquemond’s earlier work in the 1870s, before she fully embraced the Impressionist style. She exhibited this artwork at the eighth Impressionist exhibition in 1886, over a decade after it was painted.
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA 2026.172
Marie Bracquemond
French, 1840–1916
Still Life with Oranges, c.1880
oil on canvas
This still life featuring a table setting with a platter of oranges, bottles of liqueurs, and a plate of ladyfinger cookies showcases Marie Bracquemond’s Impressionistic handling of color, light, and texture. The scene was likely painted in Bracquemond’s home garden at the Villa Brancas in Sèvres, indicated by the purple clusters of lilac blossoms in front of the table and in the background. Still Life with Oranges was recently discovered and is being shown in the US for the first time in this exhibition.
This is the first artwork by Marie Bracquemond to enter the Saint Louis Art Museum’s collection.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James W. Singer Jr., Dr. and Mrs. Harold Joseph, Mr. and Mrs. Morton D. May, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Aronson, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer Jr., Carl D. Lobell, and Samuel A. Marx, funds given by the Ruth Kelso Renfrow Art Club, gift of Leila and Monroe R. Meyerson, Emily Lambert Wilson, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Shoenberg, all by exchange 43:2026
Marie Bracquemond
French, 1840–1916
from left to right:
Landscape (Path Through Trees), date unknown
oil on panel
Woman at the Window, date unknown
oil on canvas
Paris, Musée d’Orsay; Don Armel and Nicolas Jundt, 2024 2026.214 and 2026.215
These small paintings illustrate Marie Braccquemond’s developing Impressionistic treatment of light and color. The oil study Landscape (Path Through Trees) shows a sun- dappled path winding through the forest. The palette overall is darker and more naturalistic, indicative of her earlier painting style in the 1870s. However, areas of lighter, more intense tones punctuate the scene, suggesting her increasing explorations of color and light. The unfinished sketch Woman at the Window highlights this interest even further, with the window allowing light to filter into the room, rendering the forms in shades of bright pink, violet, and green.
These paintings remained with Bracquemond’s descendants until 2024 and are being exhibited publicly for the first time.
Marie Bracquemond
French, 1840–1916
Woman in White, c.1880
oil on canvas
Marie Bracquemond painted her sister, Louise Quivoron, in a lacy gown in a sunlit garden. Dappled light shimmers through the trees behind her, casting cool blue and green shadows on the bright white of her dress. Bracquemond was fascinated with the color white and how it interacted with light and the natural environment. Though she had a traditional artistic training, she came to favor the spontaneous, plein-air style of painting outdoors that characterized the Impressionists. This painting was shown at the fifth Impressionist exhibition in 1880.
Paris, Musée d’Orsay 2026.212
Marie Bracquemond
French, 1840–1916
A Countryside Picnic in the Sun, c.1882
graphite, charcoal, and red chalk
A young man and woman lounge in a grassy meadow having a picnic. Details like the undulating pattern of clouds in the sky and the small butterfly that flits near the woman’s head convey the peacefulness of the scene. The abundance of flowers and plants, as well as the couple’s elegant but relaxed attire, suggests that this takes place on a warm spring or summer day. As seen in this drawing and in other paintings on view nearby, Marie Bracquemond treated the theme of women outdoors as examples of outdoor leisure, in which middle-class women had more freedom to explore pleasurable activities.
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Stewart S. MacDermott Fund, 2024 (2024.621) 2026.209
Marie Bracquemond
French, 1840–1916
June: The Herbs of Saint John’s Day, 1882
charcoal and graphite on paper
A group of women gather herbs and flowers on a lush hillside while an infant rests in a basket in the foreground. Dense vegetation and bright-white daisies are rendered through tightly interwoven strokes of charcoal and graphite. In the upper right corner, a well-dressed couple observes the working women from a distance, signaling both the physical and metaphorical separation between social classes. Marie Bracquemond typically focused on scenes of leisure that reflected her own middle-class lifestyle, but also occasionally examined working-class subjects, such as female laborers in the fields.
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA, gift of an anonymous donor 2026.173
Marie Bracquemond
French, 1840–1916
La Chabanne, Terraced Garden Overlooking the Countryside, c.1880
black pencil and watercolor on paper
Potted plants and flowering bushes run along a narrow path in this luminous watercolor. A white stone wall separates the garden from trees growing on the slope below. Marie Bracquemond frequently depicted images of enclosed or terraced gardens, seen at her home in Sèvres as well as this lush space from a château in La Chabanne, in southeast-central France, where she and her family also resided. The terrace allowed her to explore the transition between the curated domestic setting of the garden and the surrounding natural environment.
Paris, Musée d’Orsay, held in the Graphic Arts Department of the Musée du Louvre 2026.213
Marie Bracquemond
French, 1840–1916
Haviland & Company, Limoges
France, active 1842–1931
Vase, 1872–81
glazed terracotta
Ceramic design was an important part of Marie Bracquemond’s practice. On one side, this vase depicts an elegant woman with a crown of flowers decorating her hair, and the other side depicts a design of white and blue blossoms. Bracquemond, and her husband and fellow artist Félix, worked for many years at the national porcelain manufactory in Sèvres, France, as well as at the Paris studio of the Haviland ceramic company. She not only painted vases like this but also designed an ambitious large- scale, multipanel ceramic tile composition depicting seven Muses of the Arts—dance, comedy, sculpture, architecture, painting, poetry, and music—instead of the traditional nine. This was shown at the 1878 World Exposition in Paris (see image below).
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris 2026.216
Gallery 244B
Between a Garden and a Park
Berthe Morisot was deeply attached to the gardens of her Parisian family homes throughout her life. In the early 1880s, she and her husband, Eugène Manet, constructed a new house with an extensive garden. Morisot’s paintings from this decade show the lush garden filled with flowers. At the same time, she frequently painted the nearby Bois de Boulogne, a large city park in the far west of Paris, which had developed in the 1850s and 1860s. Morisot’s nephew-in-law, the poet Paul Valéry, described this park as an “extension of [Morisot’s] garden.”
Morisot particularly favored boating images on the many artificial lakes of the Bois de Boulogne. She paid careful attention to the water birds in the park, with swans and ducks playing an important part in her work. Her rapidly worked and intimately scaled paintings contrast with the meticulous and large-scale artworks of the successful Salon painter Louise Abbéma, whose work is also on view in this gallery. Both artists treated their sitters as serious subjects within the landscape, representing women figures as self- possessed individuals in various social roles. For both painters, the park served as a setting for leisure and respite within the tumult of the Parisian metropolis.
Berthe Morisot,
French, 1841–1895
The Cage, 1885
oil on canvas
Berthe Morisot and her daughter, Julie, often kept birds as pets. They particularly loved parrots, but they also had budgerigars, as is evident from this image. The two small birds are framed against an arrangement of flowers that Morisot would have picked from her garden, as was her practice. Morisot’s friend, the painter Jacques-Emile Blanche, remembered that she would decorate her studio with tulips, daffodils, and peonies.
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay 2026.164
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Portrait of a Girl with a Veil (Jeanne Pontillon), 1884
pastel
A dark-haired girl wearing a veiled bonnet gazes over her shoulder. Dense green shading in the background indicates an outdoor setting. The model here is likely Berthe Morisot’s 14-year-old niece Jeanne Pontillon, who, like her mother, Edma, frequently posed for Morisot. This work may depict Jeanne in the Pontillons’ own garden at Maurecourt.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Funds given by the Dorothy H. Pflager Tribute Fund in memory of Dorothy H. Pflager 8:1964
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
The Lesson in the Garden, 1886
oil on canvas
Berthe Morisot’s garden at her home on the rue de Villejust in Paris appeared frequently in her paintings during the late 1880s. Here, she painted her husband, Eugène, and daughter, Julie, sitting on a bench in their garden. They are shown from a distance, rather than being the focus of the scene. Instead, the environment itself takes center stage, with the wide expanse of grass dominating the foreground of the painting and brightly colored flowers leading to the dense foliage of the trees in the background.
Frederic C. Hamilton Collection at the Denver Art Museum, 2025.317 2026.162
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
from top to bottom, left to right:
The Lake in the Bois de Boulogne, 1888
drypoint
The Duck, 1888
drypoint
The Goose, 1889
drypoint
Swan and Duck with Sketches of Julie and the Model Jeanne-Marie, 1889
drypoint
Collection of Bill Scott 2026.191–.194
In this group of prints, Berthe Morisot depicted trees, boats, and water birds, similar to the imagery seen in her paintings of the Bois de Boulogne. Unlike her paintings, though, these prints are sparsely designed, with minimal black lines and areas of paper left untouched. Together, they highlight Morisot’s continuing fascination with the birds of the park, whose habits she studied closely. The images suggest the individual mannerisms of geese, swans, and ducks, and show their pond habitat of reeds and trees. The prints may have been produced for the poem, “Le nénuphar blanc” (The White Water Lily), published in 1885 by Morisot’s close friend, French poet Stéphane Mallarmé, in which the narrator describes a dreamlike boat ride. Mallarmé’s fascination with the natural world, and particularly water scenery, paralleled closely that of Morisot.
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
from left to right:
On the Lake, 1889
oil on canvas
Private Collection, Denver, CO 2026.198
On the Lake, 1884
oil on canvas
Private Collection 2026.188
These two paintings highlight Berthe Morisot’s attachment to the lakes of the Bois de Boulogne, which she would often visit. In one rapidly worked image, Morisot shows her six-year-old daughter, Julie, in profile. The craning necks of the swans, perhaps in search of breadcrumbs, echo the form of the young girl. In a second painting, Morisot again shows Julie, this time with Julie’s nanny, Pasie. Here, a group of swans swim up eagerly to the boat. In the 1880s and 1890s, Morisot often painted swans, attracted to their elegant forms as well as their individual personalities. She was also particularly interested in the interaction between her sitters and these birds.
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Stream in the Bois de Boulogne, 1886
oil on canvas
Berthe Morisot’s verdant painting of the Bois de Boulogne showcases one of the many streams in the forest. Bright cobalt-blue brush marks in the water offset the dominant green tones in the composition. In the distance are figures on a bench, horse riders, and a disappearing carriage. Two women may even be crossing a footbridge to the left. This work, an example of Morisot’s figural landscape paintings, highlights the connection between humans and the natural environment.
Collection Le Polyptyque 2026.161
Film of Bois de Boulogne, 1902
duration: 1 minute, looped
This archival film highlights the Bois de Boulogne as a space for urban leisure, whether for promenading horse riders or families playing on manicured lawns. The film was made a few years after Berthe Morisot’s death but while artists such as Louise Abbéma continued to visit the space. A motorcar is briefly visible at the beginning of the film, highlighting the ongoing changes to the landscape in and around Paris at the turn of the century.
A Walk in the Park, Paris, France in 1900; colorized and restored by Glamourdaze (glamourdaze.com)
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
The Shuttlecock, 1888
oil on canvas
Berthe Morisot here depicts Jeanne Bonnet, a friend of her daughter Julie, sitting alongside a path, probably in the Bois de Boulogne. She holds a shuttlecock—made of cork, feathers, and leather—and a racquet for the game of jeu de volant, similar to modern badminton. Morisot presents the park as a site for modern urban leisure.
Private Collection 2026.197
Louise Abbéma,
French, 1853–1927
Sarah Bernhardt and Louise Abbéma on the Lake in the Bois de Boulogne, 1883
oil on canvas
This image shows its painter, Louise Abbéma, standing in formal attire with a bright red umbrella on a boat alongside her partner, the famed actress Sarah Bernhardt. The two women’s relationship is echoed by the pair of nearby black swans. Abbéma would later reflect on her time with Bernhardt: “For forty years, there has not been the slightest disagreement, not the slightest veil between the two of us.” Abbéma traveled extensively around France over her long career, often painting outdoors. This painting showcases her careful rendering of the varied flora and fauna of the Bois de Boulogne.
Collections de la Comédie-Française 2026.196
Gallery 245
1874 Impressionist Exhibition
A group known as the Société anonyme des artistes, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, etc. organized together to show their work independently from the government- sponsored exhibition of the Paris Salons. They broke with tradition to establish an artist-led exhibition where they could promote a new approach to art.
The first Impressionist exhibition opened on April 15, 1874, two weeks before the official Salon of 1874. It was held in the studio of photographer Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon), located on the second floor of a building at 35 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris (see image in this gallery). The exhibition included around 225 artworks in various media—paintings, pastels, etchings, sculptures—by 31 artists. Berthe Morisot, whose artworks from the first Impressionist exhibition are reproduced in this gallery, was one of two women artists to have participated.
About 3,500 people visited the 1874 Impressionists exhibition, compared to around 400,000 visitors to the Salon that same year. The entrance fee was one franc—equivalent to about 21 cents at the time and around 6 dollars today. Visitors could purchase a catalogue (see cover image above) and the artworks on view. The exhibition was considered a failure, with one critic labeling the work “impressionist” as an insult. Despite these obstacles, Impressionism would ultimately achieve international success and influence future generations of artists.
Show your artwork at the 1874 Impressionist exhibition!
Create a landscape scene inspired by the Impressionists.
Think of a place important to you—somewhere you feel calm or happy. Imagine what it is like to be there. What people and things do you see?
What to do:
–Draw a landscape on a sheet of paper using the colored pencils.
–Consider choosing vibrant colors and using quick, small strokes.
–Hang your artwork in one of the frames on the bottom row or take it with you.
–Please only use the bottom row of frames to display your art.
The top row of frames shows reproductions of four artworks that Berthe Morisot exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition.
The original painting of the work at far left, Reading, is on view in Gallery 246.
Medical Notice: Magnets In Use
This activity uses small magnets. Visitors with pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are advised to maintain a distance of 6 inches from the magnets.
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Reproductions of details from left to right:
Reading, 1873
oil on canvas; 18 1/8 x 28 1/4 inches;
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hanna Fund 2026.186
Hide and Seek, 1873
oil on canvas; 17 3/4 x 21 5/8 inches
Private collection
The Harbor at Lorient, 1869
oil on canvas; 17 1/8 x 28 3/4 inches
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection 1970.17.48
Village at Maurecourt, 1873
pastel on paper; 18 1/2 x 28 1/4 inches;
Private collection
Artwork for this engagement gallery created by Andrew Cross.
Gallery 244C
Painting Rural Agriculture
The women Impressionists expressed ecological ideas by painting local farmers and their diverse crops at a time of increasingly mechanized agriculture and large, one-crop farms. In the 1880s, Berthe Morisot showed a growing interest in rural labor as a result of living outside of Paris and in the South of France. She painted harvesters gathering hay, and orange groves that were cultivated on the Mediterranean Coast. In 1890 and 1891, Morisot lived for several months at Mézy, a small village northwest of Paris. There, she immersed herself in the environment, exploring themes that reflected the region’s farming culture of wheat and dairy. Morisot painted people from the area as her models, emphasizing their relationship to the land.
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet painted the local agriculture at Giverny, another village to the northwest of Paris, where there was an established community of artists. From the mid-1880s into the late 1890s, Hoschedé- Monet painted outdoors regularly at Giverny, often alongside her famed stepfather and later father-in-law, Claude Monet. She grew to understand the farming seasons and developed a particular aptitude for painting harvest scenes that showed the region’s fertile land. Her commitment to painting outside led to her experimentation with diverse weather effects, from summer heat to winter cold.
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Villa with Orange Trees, 1882
oil on canvas
Berthe Morisot and her daughter, Julie, visited Nice in the south of France in 1882, where they stayed in the Villa Arnulfi. The villa was surrounded by an orchard of orange trees, which Morisot would paint by setting up her easel on a neighboring property, as in the example here. A dense line of trees dotted with golden oranges nearly obscures the villa itself, which rises in the background beyond the treetops. Morisot seemed to particularly like this painting. She exhibited it at the seventh Impressionist exhibition in 1882, the eighth and final Impressionist exhibition in 1886, and at her first solo exhibition in 1892.
Private Collection, France 2026.199
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Haymaking at Bougival, 1883
oil on canvas
While staying in the Parisian suburb of Bougival, Berthe Morisot repeatedly painted the local harvest. In this work, she represents a large hay mound in slashing strokes of pink, green, lavender, and yellow. Workers pitch hay onto the mound. Morisot’s interest in these forms may have influenced the decision of her friends Claude Monet and Blanche Hoschedé-Monet to paint haystacks years later at Giverny, as can be seen elsewhere in this gallery.
Paris, Musée Marmottan Monet, Annie Rouart bequest, 1993; Inv.6015 2026.220
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Haymaker, 1888
oil on canvas
This painting relates to Berthe Morisot’s images of rural workers but was actually staged with a professional model in the artist’s garden in the heart of Paris. The woman rakes grass, her blue skirt hitched up and her hair in a chignon bun. Behind the figure are a few pink flowers and the green bench that sat in the garden. The work is almost certainly a study for a larger, unrealized painting of rural labor.
Cindy and Mark Galant 2026.160
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
from left to right:
Peasant Girl Among Tulips, 1890
oil on canvas
Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis; Museum purchase, 1981.1 2026.01
The Bowl of Milk, 1890
oil on canvas
Summit Trust Geneva for Sidarta Collection 2026.180
In these two paintings, Berthe Morisot depicts Gabrielle Dufour, a local 12-year-old girl from Mézy who became friends with her daughter, Julie. Morisot spent two summers, in 1890 and 1891, in this rural village, which offered a retreat from the busy city. In the larger work at left, the swirling pinks and greens of Dufour’s dress complement those of the surrounding tulips, while her dirty hands suggest her labor. In the other work, the young girl holds a bowl of milk, indicating the importance of dairy in the village. This painting was owned by Claude Monet, who hung it in his bedroom at Giverny, indicating his admiration of Morisot’s artistic practice.
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet
French, 1865–1947
Landscape, Snow Effect; the Valley near Giverny, 1888
oil on canvas
A narrow dirt road winds through a snow-covered landscape by Blanche Hoschedé-Monet, painted when she was in her early 20s. The bare trees and underbrush that line the road are punctuated with strokes of pale yellow, intense blue and green, and deep purple and red. Though Hoschedé-Monet often worked alongside her mentor, stepfather, and eventual father-in-law, Claude Monet, this was the first painting she made on her own. It was her first submission to the official Paris Salon, and though it was ultimately not accepted, it indicated her ambition to establish herself as an artist in her own right.
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gifts of funds from Mary Reyelts, Mary O. Olson, Anne Pantelich and Doug Hepper, Terry and Sheldon Fleck, Martha Head, Elizabeth Short and R. Kirkland Cozine, Ellen Archibald, Elizabeth and Michael Gorman, and an anonymous donor 2026.176
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet
French, 1865–1947
Haystack at Giverny, c.1893
oil on canvas
A lone haystack stands in a brightly lit green field in Giverny. Blanche Hoschedé-Monet painted this scene outdoors alongside Claude Monet. While the two artists often painted the same subjects together, Hoschedé-Monet asserted her artistic independence through compositional choices. Monet painted the haystack head on, with uniform bands of trees and sky in the background; Hoschedé-Monet instead chose to paint the haystack from an angle. This shift in perspective creates a more- dynamic composition, with towering trees in the background and a small portion of clear blue sky visible in the right corner.
Alice and Rick Johnson 2026.07
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet
French, 1865–1947
The Small Grainstacks, c.1894
oil on canvas
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet painted the landscape in Giverny alongside Claude Monet, and the two artists focused on many of the same themes and locations. The influence of their artistic partnership can be seen in The Small Grainstacks, which depicts a field of bound wheat sheaves. Using short, overlapping brushstrokes, Hoschedé-Monet built up the landscape in quick swipes of green, pink, purple, and orange, with contrasting shadowy areas of cool blue.
Alice and Rick Johnson 2026.05
Gallery 243
Informal Artistic Networks
Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt had known each other since the 1870s and became increasingly close around 1890. This same year, they visited an exhibition of Japanese prints in Paris together, sharing a love for the flat, decorative designs; cropped compositions; and nature imagery. Both women achieved considerable commercial and critical recognition in the 1890s. Cassatt’s works, in particular, articulated her feminist perspective, demonstrating the value of women’s labor and knowledge, and her belief in women’s suffrage at a time when women did not have the right to vote in France or the United States. In 1893, she exhibited an enormous landscape mural at the Chicago World’s Fair (see image below), which celebrated women’s rights.
As established figures in the Impressionist movement, Morisot and Cassatt supported a younger generation of women artists. In the early 1890s, they visited the flourishing artistic community of Giverny to see their friend Claude Monet and his stepdaughter, Blanche Hoschedé-Monet. Morisot, in particular, was a mentor for Hoschedé-Monet. During this decade, Hoschedé- Monet repeatedly painted the gardens and pond at Giverny and the nearby Seine River. She developed a painterly independence from her stepfather, evident in the compositional choices that distinguish her work, and was commercially successful in both France and the US.
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Young Girl Hanging a Bird Cage in a Tree, 1890
oil on canvas
Berthe Morisot depicts her daughter, Julie, in their garden at Mézy in a swirling cluster of green and blue. Her face obscured, she reaches up to hang her pet parrot’s cage on a tree branch. The curving blue-toned lines of the tree trunk mimic Julie’s flowing blue dress, visually linking the two forms. Morisot’s animated brushwork creates a halolike effect around her daughter, further enveloping her within the environment and resulting in a dreamlike atmosphere.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Bequest of Leslie L. Ridley-Tree 2026.200
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
The Cherry Tree, 1891
oil on canvas
In 1891, Berthe Morisot painted her daughter, Julie, and niece Jeannie Gobillard picking cherries in an orchard in Mézy. The painting highlights Morisot’s increasingly intense use of color in her later years. Here the jewel-like cherries contrast with the lush green leaves and vibrant blue sky. Morisot considered The Cherry Tree one of her most important projects. She worked on it for several years, creating numerous drawings and pastels, and painted three versions of the image (see image below). These paintings were known and admired by Morisot’s Impressionist colleagues and may have influenced Mary Cassatt’s images of fruit harvesting made during the same period.
Bruce and Robbi Toll 2026.157
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
Gathering Fruit, c.1895
color drypoint, softground etching, and aquatint on laid paper
In this print, a young woman on a ladder picks pears and grapes from lush fruit trees and vines growing alongside a brick wall. She hands the fruit down to a small child cradled in the arms of another woman. In the 1890s, Mary Cassatt frequently explored the theme of women and children harvesting fruit, symbolizing the passing of knowledge from one generation to the next. In Gathering Fruit, she uses opaque washes of flat color, decorative patterning, and compressed space, demonstrating the influence of Japanese woodblock prints, which were extremely popular in the French art market at the time.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 2026.179
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
The Water Jug, 1893
oil on canvas
A young girl carrying a jug of water stops to rest. Gazing outward, she appears lost in reverie. Berthe Morisot visually linked the figure with the landscape through the peachy pink, cream, green, and mauve tones that make up the girl’s clothes, her skin, and the surrounding environment. The girl’s dreamy expression points to Morisot’s increasing interest in conveying the inner life and emotions of her subjects.
High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Doris and Shouky Shaheen Collection 2026.158
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet
French, 1865–1947
The Weeping Willows on the Lily Pond at Giverny, 1893–97
oil on canvas
In this painting of weeping willow trees, Blanche Hoschedé- Monet fills the canvas from side to side, contrasting the vertical brushstrokes for the willow trees and horizontal strokes for the rippling water. Curving brush marks in vibrant tones of pink, yellow, blue, and green also bring to life the water lily flowers and pads. Hoschedé-Monet’s work highlights her careful attention to the lily pond as well as the growing abstraction in her imagery at the turn of the century.
Columbus Museum of Art, Museum Purchase, through exchange 2026.189
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet
French, 1865–1947
Morning on the Seine, c.1896
oil on canvas
Blanche Hoschedé-Monet and Claude Monet often painted outdoors side by side. To achieve their views of the Seine, the artists would paddle out on the water in a rowboat. In Morning on the Seine, Hoschedé-Monet placed the horizon line near the center of the canvas, almost evenly dividing the image between the landscape and sky and their reflection in the water. In contrast to Monet (see image below), she included a clump of reeds at bottom right of her composition, highlighting her careful attention to the plant life of the river.
Alice and Rick Johnson 2026.06
Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Bath, 1894
oil on canvas
Two women bathers sit within a green landscape flecked with yellow lilies in a painting Julie Manet described as “an emerald all set in gold.” Berthe Morisot painted this image a year before her untimely death in 1895 at the age of 54. It highlights the dualities guiding her later work: She took inspiration from traditional subject matter, like bathing scenes, while working in an abstract painting style that emphasized compressed space and simplified forms.
Private Collection 2022.18
Gallery 242
“My place in the country”: Mary Cassatt at the Château de Beaufresne
In 1894, Mary Cassatt bought a large country home, the Château de Beaufresne, some 50 miles northwest of Paris in the village of Le Mesnil- Théribus. Cassatt would live there for the remaining 32 years of her life, while also keeping an apartment in Paris. Cassatt called Beaufresne “my place in the country.” She maintained a significant household there, with her longtime housekeeper, Mathilde Valet, as well as a cook, a driver, a chambermaid, and two gardeners, all of whom lived on the property.
The Château de Beaufresne had a large pond and extensive grounds. Over the years, Cassatt cultivated the garden with paths and flower beds of roses and chrysanthemums. She once wrote that she had planted a thousand tea roses and was looking forward to being able to smell their fragrances. She was also deeply attached to her pond and wrote in 1906 that “the whole beauty of the place is the water.”
Cassatt’s paintings at Beaufresne situate her female protagonists in the home’s verdant settings. She often painted outdoors and was attentive to the play of light, particularly across the surface of the water. Her garden images played a crucial role in her late professional career, bringing her considerable critical and commercial success.
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
Summertime, 1894
oil on canvas
Mary Cassatt shows a woman and child looking down at the colorful reflections on the surface of the artist’s pond at Beaufresne. Complementary tones of pink and green—and blue and orange—create a shimmering effect. Cassatt had been interested in painting reflections for some time, but the acquisition of her pond gave her the opportunity to study at leisure the changing effects of light on water. Like Morisot, Cassatt often painted ducks, a number of whom she kept on her Beaufresne property.
Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection 2026.169
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
from left to right:
Feeding the Ducks, c.1895
drypoint
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.107.99) 2026.206
Feeding the Ducks, c.1895
drypoint, softground etching, and aquatint, printed in color from three plates
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.107.100) 2026.207
As seen in the painting Summertime, on view nearby, Mary Cassatt was enchanted by the duck pond at Beaufresne, and it became a key subject in her imagery there. Turning her attention to printmaking in the early 1890s, Cassatt explored this theme while also attempting to replicate the look of Japanese color woodblock prints. Here, two prints of Feeding the Ducks illustrate Cassatt’s process. The black and white version, made only in drypoint lines—a method in which an image is scratched onto a metal plate—represents the contours of the figures, boat, and ducks, as well as details like the patterns on the figures’ dresses and their hair.
The later, color version shows the evolution of Cassatt’s design, with changes to the ducks’ positions. The image was printed in color from three plates, each creating a translucent wash of tone reminiscent of watercolor. Cassatt’s skillful treatment of the color helps to capture the effect of light on the water, while the flatness of the image also echoes Japanese woodblock prints.
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
from left to right:
Under the Horse Chestnut Tree, 1898
drypoint and aquatint
Kennedy Fund, Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations 2026.181
By the Pond, c.1896
drypoint and aquatint
S.P. Avery Collection, Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations 2026.182
Under the Horse Chestnut Tree and By the Pond depict the landscape near the duck pond at Mary Cassatt’s château at Beaufresne. In both images, Cassatt simplified the environment around the figures, reducing land, water, and sky to flat swaths of blue and green. These works exemplify Cassatt’s innovative printmaking technique, combining the influence of Japanese woodblock style with more-traditionally European methods. After viewing an exhibition of Japanese prints at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1890, Cassatt excitedly wrote to Berthe Morisot, “I dream of it and don’t think of anything else but color on copper.” In her prints from this period, she attempted to translate the flat translucent areas of color from Japanese woodblock prints using aquatint—an etching process on copper plates—to achieve areas of tone.
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
The Sun Bath, with Three Figures, 1898–99
oil on canvas
In this ambitious, unfinished painting, Mary Cassatt evoked the effect of warm sunlight falling onto the bodies of two young women and a naked child. The setting is the verdant foliage and trees around the pond at Beaufresne. Cassatt was interested in early 20th-century ideas of vitalism, or the notion of a powerful life-force coursing through nature. Within this context, sunlight offered important potential health benefits for children and adults alike.
On loan from a private collection, United States of America 2026.221
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
Spring: Margot Standing in a Garden, 1900
oil on canvas
Mary Cassatt here painted a local model, likely Marguerite Lutz, who lived in the village of Le Mesnil-Théribus, where Cassatt’s château was situated. Lutz’s dress falls off her shoulder, perhaps suggesting a moment of play. Although the young girl dominates the composition, Cassatt pays careful attention to the surrounding nature, such as the camellia in Lutz’s hat and the cherry tree and pink rose bush in the garden behind. This work highlights the vibrant brushwork in Cassatt’s later paintings, which were much sought after by French and American collectors.
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Ruth Alms Barnard, 1981 (1982.119.2) 2026.208
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
The Bath, 1910
oil on canvas
This painting is one of Mary Cassatt’s last major works and demonstrates her longstanding interest in images of women and children in outdoor settings. Here, the children are about to take a swim. As was her practice, Cassatt carefully studied the reflections of foliage in the pond at her home in Beaufresne. She evokes the shimmering water surface with horizontal brushstrokes of yellow, pale green, and dark green. Soon after completing this work, her health began to decline. In 1911 she was diagnosed with diabetes, which impacted her eyesight.
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris 2026.217
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
from left to right:
Preparatory sketch for Mother and Child in a Boat, 1906–08
oil on canvas
High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Gift in memory of Russell Bellman by his wife, Katherine Haverty Bellman 2026.159
Mother and Child in a Boat, 1908
oil on canvas
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, Gift of anonymous donor, 1930.378 2026.02
Mary Cassatt’s painting shows her longstanding engagement with the theme of “mother and child,” particularly associated with imagery of Mary and the infant Jesus in religious altarpieces, which she had studied on her earlier travels to Italy and Spain. However, Cassatt removes any suggestion of religious symbolism, instead focusing on the mother’s tender care for her child, who gingerly dips her toe in the water. The painting is shown here for the first time with its preparatory sketch. Together, they demonstrate Cassatt’s experimentation with conveying expression—from the animated smile in the sketch to the more melancholic expression in the final work.
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
The Round Dance of the Children, 1905–08
earthenware
This large-scale vase is Mary Cassatt’s only known surviving ceramic and testament to an aspect of her artistic practice that is little studied. Cassatt’s interest in ceramics dates to the 1870s but only fully developed in the 1900s when she entered into a collaboration with the ceramist André Metthey. That collaboration was orchestrated by Cassatt’s art dealer, Ambroise Vollard. Cassatt painted her designs onto vases after Metthey had made them. The example here evokes an idyllic, pastoral scene of young children dancing in a circle within a verdant natural setting. The brick-red outlines of their forms stand out sharply against the rapidly brushed background.
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris 2026.218
Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon), French, 1820–1910; Studio of Nadar at 35 Boulevard des Capucines, (Paris), c.1870.
Mary Cassatt
American (active France), 1844–1926
from left to right:
Head of Simone in a Green Bonnet with Wavy Brim (No. 2), c.1904
pastel on paper
Saint Louis Art Museum, Funds given by Mr. and Mrs. John E. Simon 23:1957
In the Garden, 1903 or 1904
oil on canvas
Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman 2026.204
This luminous painting likely shows Simone Bihet, a young girl from the local village of Chaumont-en-Vexin, north of Paris. She has a tender expression as she looks up at her mother, seated in front of her. Mary Cassatt often used Bihet as a model, as seen in a related pastel study nearby, where she has a large green-blue hat. In the painting, in contrast, she wears a straw hat with black border. Behind her are a path and rose bushes in blooms of crimson, pink, and yellow. Such winding paths and scattered rose beds covered Cassatt’s garden, as seen in a postcard of her garden and pond from this time (see image below).
Gallery 241
Welcome to Paint ’n’ Play!
Use a paintbrush or your finger to create a work of art. Take inspiration from the color palettes and brushstrokes of artists in the exhibition, or come up with your own unique style.
Please limit your time to five minutes when others are waiting.
Share your painting with us @stlartmuseum.
Use this URL to access the Paint ’n’ Play at home on laptops or tablets: slam.org/paintnplay.
Developed in partnership with the National Gallery of Art.
Paint ’n’ Play is generously supported by the PNC Foundation.
Enjoy this soundscape of field recordings and imagine visiting the gardens and pond at Mary Cassatt’s home, the Château de Beaufresne.
“Birds In The Lawn” from Summer Ambience Relaxing Nature Sounds for Studying, by Nature Sounds of Scotland. © 2021 Burgh Records, Edinburgh, all rights reserved.
Mary Cassatt’s pond with mill (printmaking studio) at the Château de Beaufresne. Photo: Hervé Gudefin.