Why Home, Garden, and Family: Cassatt's Little Girl in a Garden

A girl sits quietly absorbed in her sewing, surrounded by a garden. The cool, green garden air and the girl's calm expression blend together into a serene mood. The painter, Mary Cassatt, was one of Impressionism's leading female artists.

The Musée d'Orsay holds works by several women painters besides Cassatt, including Berthe Morisot, and their paintings share something in common: a striking preference for subjects like the home, the garden, and family. There was no law barring women from doing otherwise, but social convention at the time sharply restricted women from going out unaccompanied or mixing freely with men. Painting landscapes outdoors wasn't easy, and neither was building relationships with critics or dealers. So women painters naturally turned to the spaces available to them — home, garden, family — for their subject matter. Little Girl in a Garden emerged from exactly that backdrop.

Here's an interesting detail: Mary Cassatt was American. She moved to Paris, joined the Impressionist circle, and later played a major role in introducing Impressionism to American audiences and connecting collectors with the movement's work — which is a large part of why Impressionism eventually spread so widely across the Atlantic.