On a Balcony

Mary Cassatt's "On a Balcony" captures a serene moment, characteristic of her Impressionist style and her focus on the private lives of women. Painted around 1879, it falls squarely within the period when Cassatt, an American painter who spent much of her adult life in France, was exhibiting with the Impressionists and befriending figures like Edgar Degas. While Cassatt is perhaps best known for her tender depictions of mothers and children, as seen in works like "The Child's Bath" and "Maternal Caress," this painting offers a glimpse into a different facet of her oeuvre: women in contemplative, everyday settings. The artwork's creation year of 1879 is entirely plausible, as Cassatt would have been 35 years old. This piece, along with others such as "The Letter" and "In the Omnibus," demonstrates her keen observation of the social and domestic spheres, rendered with the loose brushwork and vibrant light typical of the movement she embraced.