Auguste Reading to Her Daughter 1910

Mary Cassatt made Auguste Reading to Her Daughter with oil on canvas, sometime in the late 19th century. What I love about this piece is how it captures the quiet, intimate moment between a mother and daughter, totally engrossed in their own worlds, but together. Cassatt’s brushwork is so present; you can see how each stroke builds the forms, especially in the dresses. There’s this beautiful contrast between the mother’s dress, rendered in cool blues and greens, and the daughter’s, which is all pink. The pink almost vibrates against the greens, doesn't it? It's like Cassatt knew exactly how to make colors sing. If you look at the daughter’s dress, it is not just a flat pink, there are highlights and shadows. For me, this painting is like stepping into a memory, a hazy, soft-focused moment that feels both familiar and distant, much like the paintings of Berthe Morisot. It reminds us that paintings are not just about what they depict, but how they make us feel.