Mary Cassatt: The Independent” at the Musée d’Orsay

One hundred years after the death of Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), the Musée d’Orsay organizes the first major French exhibition dedicated to the American artist, an active member and pillar of the Impressionist group. Bringing together about 80 paintings, pastels, and prints throughout Cassatt's career, “L’indépendante” adopts a chronological-thematic approach to revisit her work through the lens of independence, a value she claimed in both life and art. The exhibition traces the artist's journey from her early works and family portraits, shaped by contact with the old European masters, to her entry into a predominantly male world as a professional painter — in this journey, images of elegant young women, seeking space and independence in modern life, became some of her most striking creations, exhibited in the Impressionist shows she participated in at the invitation of her friend Edgar Degas. The exhibition also highlights Cassatt's role as an advisor for Impressionist art purchases for American collectors, her country estate in Oise — the setting for outdoor scenes with women and children —, and the monumental mural “Modern Woman” (4 x 18 meters), commissioned for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, now lost, which will be evoked through prints, related pastels, and a digital video restoration.