Auguste Reading to Her Daughter 1910

Mary Cassatt captured this mother and daughter in paint, probably oil, with strokes so light it feels like watercolor. I can imagine her, brush in hand, trying to capture the fleeting moment, the light shifting. Did she start with the figures, or the background? You know, the way the pink of the daughter’s dress just pops against the green of the mother’s, that’s so Cassatt. It’s like she’s saying, “Here’s beauty, here’s life, right in the middle of an ordinary afternoon.” I think of other painters, Berthe Morisot, for example. They were all in this dance together, pushing and pulling at the edges of what painting could be. It's a conversation, an exchange. This painting isn’t just a picture, it’s a feeling, a moment, painted with such tenderness.