Degas - Portrait of Mary Cassatt

Edgar Degas - Portrait of Miss Cassatt, Seating, Holding Cards c.1870-1872

Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt were friends and he made her portrait: clearly a portrait of a friend made by a friend. It is casual, it has insight, it demonstrates empathy. It is now at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

Here is a painting by Mary Cassatt, the portrait of her mother, reading Le Figaro. The placement of the mirror there is fantastic! It's like she's looking at the window, seeing the other hand of her mother and having the whole: an atmosphere of great affection.

Mary Cassatt, Reading Le Figaro (Portrait of Her Mother), 1878

May of Mary Cassatt's works are at the Washington Art Gallery and they are representative for her: tenderly depictions of kids. But I love a painting that I haven't yet seen, only on the web. It's the Woman in Black.

Mary Cassatt - Woman in Black, 1882, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

(American Art and Portraiture)