On a Balcony

Shown at the 1880 Impressionist exhibition, 'On a Balcony' depicts a woman in a private garden surrounded by flowers rendered in energetic brushstrokes of red, blue, yellow, and pink. Cassatt signaled the modernity of her subject through the woman’s choice of reading material: she peruses a newspaper rather than a novel, demonstrating that even at home, Cassatt’s subjects are connected to the contemporary world.

Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain.