{"id":1454,"date":"2026-05-29T13:25:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horscadre.paris\/mary-cassatt-berthe-morisots-american-heiress\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:43:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:43:04","slug":"mary-cassatt-berthe-morisots-american-heiress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horscadre.paris\/en\/mary-cassatt-berthe-morisots-american-heiress\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Cassatt \u2014 Berthe Morisot’s American Heiress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paris, 1877.<\/strong> A painter knocks on the door of a studio on Rue de Laval (now Rue Victor-Mass\u00e9, 9th arrondissement). Inside, a young American woman, thirty-three years<\/strong> old and living in Paris for over ten years, is painting. Her name is Mary Cassatt<\/strong>. The man knocking on her door is Edgar Degas<\/strong>. He has come to invite herto exhibit with the Impressionists<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

Cassatt hesitates. She has already exhibited seven times at the official Salon<\/strong> since 1868. She has been accepted, rejected, and accepted again. But Degas\u2019s invitation touches her. In her own words, recounted much later to her friend Louisine Havemeyer<\/strong>, she accepted because \u201cit meant freedom.\u201d<\/em> Leaving the Salon. Joining an avant-garde rejected by the institution. Choose a side.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Two years later, in April 1879, Mary Cassatt exhibited for the first time with the Impressionist group at the 4th exhibition<\/strong> held at 28 Avenue de l’Op\u00e9ra. She was the only American<\/strong>. She would return in 1880, 1881, and 1886\u2014 four Impressionist exhibitions in total<\/strong>. Berthe Morisot, the other woman in the group, was her contemporary and equal. Edgar Degas became her artistic mentor<\/strong>, her closest friend, and her confidant for forty years. <\/p>\n\n

This article recounts the unique life story of this American woman from Pennsylvania\u2019s upper middle class who chose Paris at the age of twenty-and never left, lived in France for sixty years<\/strong>, became the leading exponent of the maternal theme pioneered by Berthe Morisot with *Le Berceau*<\/em> in 1872, and introduced Impressionism to the United States by advising the major American collectors who built the Metropolitan Museum of Art\u2019s first Impressionist collections.<\/p>\n\n

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Allegheny 1844 \u2014 The Childhood of a Francophile American Bourgeois Woman<\/h2>\n\n

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born on May 22, 1844, in Allegheny City<\/strong>, Pennsylvania<\/strong>\u2014a city that is now part of Pittsburgh. Her family belonged to the American upper middle class<\/strong> and was of French Huguenot descent. Her father, Robert Simpson Cassatt<\/strong> (1806\u20131891), was a<\/strong> successful stockbroker<\/strong> and mayor of Allegheny<\/strong> in the 1850s. Her mother, Katherine Kelso Johnston Cassatt<\/strong>, was well-educated, fluent in French<\/strong>, and had spent part of her youth in Europe. <\/p>\n\n

Mary was the fifth of seven children<\/strong>. Several of her siblings would play an important role in her life: Lydia Cassatt<\/strong> (1837\u20131882), her older sister, would be her favorite model<\/strong> in the 1870s and 1880s; Alexander Cassatt<\/strong> (1839\u20131906), her older brother, would become the seventh president of the Pennsylvania Railroad<\/strong> \u2014one of the most powerful American railroad companies of the time. <\/p>\n\n

1851\u20131855<\/strong>: The Cassatt family moved to Europe, first to Paris<\/strong> and then to Germany<\/strong> (Heidelberg, Darmstadt). Mary was between seven and eleven years<\/strong> old. She learned French<\/strong> (which she would speak fluently throughout her life) andGerman<\/strong>. She visited the great European museums<\/strong> with her parents\u2014her first exposure to Western painting, which would have a lasting impact on her artistic calling. <\/p>\n\n

1855<\/strong>: The family returned to Pennsylvania. Mary then attended a traditional middle-class school. <\/p>\n\n

1861\u20131865<\/strong>: Mary enrolls at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts<\/strong> in Philadelphia. She is between the ages of 17 and 21<\/strong>. The American Civil War (1861\u20131865) was raging all around her, but Philadelphia was relatively unscathed. She received a classical education\u2014copying plaster casts, studying anatomy, and painting from live models. According to several biographical sources, Mary was dissatisfied<\/strong> with the quality of instruction and the treatment of female students<\/strong> at the Academy\u2014they were barred from classes in drawing from male nude models and were supervised more strictly than their male classmates. <\/p>\n\n

1865<\/strong>: At the age of twenty-one<\/strong>, Mary told her parents that she wanted to go to Paris to study painting<\/strong>. Her father strongly opposed the idea\u2014 \u201cI would rather see you dead than such a thing,\u201d<\/em> he reportedly said, refusing to allow his daughter to pursue an artistic career. Mary stood her ground. She prevailed. December 1865<\/strong>: Mary set sail for France, accompanied by her mother Katherine<\/strong> and a college friend, Eliza Haldeman<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

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The Parisian lineup \u2014 G\u00e9r\u00f4me, Couture, Chaplin<\/h2>\n\n

In Paris in January 1866<\/strong>, Mary Cassatt began her training under the masters of the French academic art tradition. She enrolled inthe studio of Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me<\/strong> (1824\u20131904), a renowned Orientalist and academic painter and one of the most prestigious teachers<\/strong> in Paris at the time. G\u00e9r\u00f4me accepted female students\u2014a rare occurrence. There, Mary learned the rigor of drawing<\/strong>, anatomical precision<\/strong>, and the polished finish<\/strong> of academic painting. <\/p>\n\n

She also took classes with Charles Chaplin<\/strong> (1825\u20131891), a society portraitist, and Paul-Constant Soyer<\/strong> (1823\u20131903), a landscape painter. She visited Barbizon<\/strong>, the center of French plein air painting. She obtained her Louvre copyist\u2019s permit<\/strong> \u2014an authorization that allowed her to copy masterpieces from the national collections, a required practice for any serious 19th-century artist. <\/p>\n\n

Mary copied Vel\u00e1zquez<\/strong>, Rubens<\/strong>, Frans Hals<\/strong>, Murillo<\/strong>, and Correggio<\/strong>. She observed the light<\/strong> of the Venetians, the vigor<\/strong> of the Flemish, and the delicacy<\/strong> of the Spaniards. It is this rigorous training in the works<\/strong> of the Old Masters<\/strong> that will always set Mary Cassatt apart from her future Impressionist friends\u2014for her, drawing remains paramount<\/strong>, and the construction of the figure<\/strong> takes precedence over its dissolution in light. <\/p>\n\n

1868<\/strong>: At the age of twenty-four<\/strong>, Mary had her first work<\/strong> accepted into the Official Paris Salon<\/strong> \u2014 A Mandolin Player<\/em><\/strong>, signed \u201cMary Stevenson\u201d<\/em> (her middle name, which she was using at the time). Her first official success. <\/p>\n\n

July 1870<\/strong>: The Franco-Prussian War<\/strong> breaks out. Paris is under threat. Mary and her family return to the United States<\/strong> for their safety. Mary spends two years in Pennsylvania<\/strong>, frustrated by her distance from the Parisian art scene. <\/p>\n\n

1871\u20131872<\/strong>: Mary returned to Europe for an extended study tour<\/strong>. She spent eight months in Parma<\/strong> (Italy), where she studied Correggio<\/strong> and Parmigianino<\/strong> and worked with Carlo Raimondi<\/strong>, director of the engraving department at the Academy of Parma. She then traveled to Spain<\/strong> (Madrid, Seville\u2014where she painted several works with Spanish subjects), Belgium<\/strong> (Antwerp\u2014Rubens, Van Dyck), and the Netherlands<\/strong> (Frans Hals in Haarlem). <\/p>\n\n

1872\u20131873<\/strong>: Great success at the Salon. *During Carnival* (a<\/em> Spanish subject) was accepted in 1872, and *Bullfighter and Young Girl*<\/em> in 1873\u2014 works very similar to Manet\u2019s<\/strong> in composition and color palette. Several art critics noted this resemblance to Manet<\/strong>, whom Mary deeply admired<\/strong> at the time. <\/p>\n\n

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Paris, 1875 \u2014 An Encounter with Degas’s Paintings<\/h2>\n\n

1873<\/strong>: Mary moved permanently to Paris<\/strong> with her mother, Katherine<\/strong>, and her sister, Lydia<\/strong>. She would never return to live in the United States. Her Parisian residences were, in succession, on Rue de Laval<\/strong>, then Rue Pierre-Charron<\/strong>, and finallythe building on Rue de Marignan<\/strong> (8th arrondissement), where she lived from 1887 until her death. <\/p>\n\n

1875\u20131877<\/strong>: a critical transitional<\/strong> period. Mary continued to exhibit at the Salon, but her work was rejected in 1875 and 1877<\/strong>. The official jury became more stringent. She began to wonder if she should look elsewhere<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

Around 1875<\/strong>, according to the story Mary would later tell her friends, she discovered Edgar Degas\u2019s works<\/strong> on display in the window of a Parisian gallery<\/strong> (probably the Durand-Ruel Gallery). She stopped in her tracks, transfixed. She would later say: <\/p>\n\n

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\u201cI had my nose pressed against the window, trying to take in as much of his art as possible. It had changed my life. I saw art then the way I wanted to see it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\u2014 Mary Cassatt, as quoted by her biographer Frederick A. Sweet<\/em><\/p>\n\n

The aesthetic impact<\/strong> is so profound that it marks Mary\u2019s shift<\/strong> toward a different conception of painting\u2014 away from polished, academic finishes<\/strong> and toward the modernity of gesture<\/strong>, asymmetrical composition<\/strong>, and the unposed gaze<\/strong> that Degas was pioneering at the time.<\/p>\n\n

According to a frequently cited biographical account, it was in 1874<\/strong> that Degas and Mary Cassatt first took notice of each other\u2019s work. He is said to have seen her *Portrait of Madame Cortier*<\/em> on display at the Salon and to have remarked, \u201cHere is someone who feels the same way I do.\u201d “<\/em> The exact attribution of this quote is debated among historians, but the fact that Degas took notice of her work<\/strong> at the 1874 Salon is attested to in several biographical sources. <\/p>\n\n

1877<\/strong>: Degas, accompanied by a brief letter of introduction, knocked on the door of Mary\u2019s studio on Rue de Laval. He formally invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists<\/strong> at their next exhibition. Mary accepted. In her own words to Louisine Havemeyer, \u201cthat meant freedom\u201d<\/em> \u2014the end of dependence on the Salon jury<\/strong> and entry into a movement of<\/strong> independent peers<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

This marked the beginning of a forty-year friendship<\/strong> between Cassatt and Degas\u2014one of the best-documented and most intense<\/strong> in the entire history of Western art.<\/p>\n\n

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The Four Impressionist Exhibitions (1879, 1880, 1881, 1886)<\/h2>\n\n

Mary Cassatt participated in four of the eight Impressionist exhibitions<\/strong> held between 1874 and 1886\u2014as a point of reference, Berthe Morisot took part in seven out of eight<\/strong>, and Camille Pissarro in all eight<\/strong>. Cassatt joined the movement later, but she threw herself into it with particular intensity<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

4th Impressionist Exhibition\u2014April 1879<\/strong> (28 Avenue de l’Op\u00e9ra). Cassatt\u2019s first participation<\/strong>. She exhibited 11 works<\/strong>, including *Woman in a Box*<\/em> (National Gallery of Art, Washington\u2014a major work that has often been reproduced). Critic Edmond Duranty<\/strong> welcomed her debut: \u201cMlle. Cassatt is a newcomer, and we welcome her with pleasure.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

5th Impressionist Exhibition \u2014 April 1880<\/strong> (10 rue des Pyramides). Cassatt exhibited again, along with, notably, *La Loge*<\/em><\/strong> and several portraits of her sister Lydia. <\/p>\n\n

6th Impressionist Exhibition \u2014 April 1881<\/strong> (35 Boulevard des Capucines, in the former Nadar studio). Cassatt exhibited works depicting motherhood, including Lydia and Edith in the Garden<\/em><\/strong> and The Mother and the Child<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 her favorite subject takes shape. <\/p>\n\n

8th Impressionist Exhibition \u2014 May 1886<\/strong> (1 rue Laffitte). The group\u2019s final exhibition<\/strong>. Cassatt exhibited once again, alongside Degas, Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Gauguin, and Seurat. It was also the major exhibition where Seurat presented his Pointillist works<\/strong>, marking an internal split<\/strong> within the movement. <\/p>\n\n

Cassatt did not participate in the exhibitions of 1882 and 1886\u20131882 for family reasons<\/strong>: her sister Lydia became seriously ill in 1882<\/strong> (Bright\u2019s disease, kidney failure) and died on November 7, 1882<\/strong>. Mary, deeply affected<\/strong> by this loss, withdrew into her family life for several years. <\/p>\n\n

A truly unique figure<\/strong>: Mary Cassatt is the only American painter<\/strong> to have officially exhibited with the French Impressionists in Paris. John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, William Merritt Chase<\/strong> \u2014all the other Americans of her generation passed through Paris and frequented the Impressionist circle, but none formally joined<\/strong> the movement as Cassatt did. This historical distinction<\/strong> is, in fact, her greatest claim to fame.<\/p>\n\n

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Degas, the Mentor \u2014 Forty Years of a Stormy Friendship<\/h2>\n\n

The friendship between Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas<\/strong> is one of the best-documented and most complex<\/strong> in the entire history of 19th-century Western painting. It lasted from 1877 to 1917<\/strong> (the year of Degas\u2019s death)\u2014a span of forty years<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

Degas is, without a doubt, Cassatt\u2019s artistic mentor<\/strong> .<\/em> According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/strong>, \u201cDegas, her primary mentor, provided critiques of her work, offered technical advice, and encouraged her experiments in printmaking.\u201d<\/em> It was Degas who: <\/p>\n\n