Mother and Sara Admiring the Baby 1901

Mary Cassatt painted ‘Mother and Sara Admiring the Baby’ with oil on canvas, but we don’t know exactly when. Her paintings are often intimate glimpses into the lives of women and children. Cassatt's mark-making has a gentle, almost nurturing quality, which makes sense given her subject matter. Look at the mother’s red robe: see how Cassatt uses these soft, broken strokes to build up the color, allowing the underlayers to peek through? There's a real tenderness in the way she handles the paint, almost as if she’s caressing the canvas. The brushwork is so intimate, you can almost feel the texture of the fabric and the warmth of the scene. Then there’s that baby, lost in its own little world. Cassatt captures the fragility and wonder of early childhood, like the soft glow on the baby’s cheeks. You see hints of Impressionism in the way Cassatt captures the light. You might also think of Berthe Morisot, another female painter of her time, who focused on domestic scenes. Both artists offered a unique, feminine perspective.