Mother And Child By Mary Cassatt

Mother and Child, an oil painting on canvas completed by Mary Cassatt in 1908, engages its audience with thick, blurred brushstrokes and the uses of warm toned colors in addition to its unexpected lines and form that transitions off into blank canvas that direct one’s eyes to the faces of the pair. The inviting image that Cassatt painted highlights a mother, in a traditional 20th century dress, holding her nude daughter while smiling down at her. In the painting, the porcelain-skinned mother is beaming down at her daughter, dimples deep in her cheeks and her daughter is smiling up at her, ice-blue eyes wide with excitement to match her own toothy grin. The tiny toddler’s pale blonde hair is half tied up with a pink bow and falls just
The color in this piece is a range of reds, browns, oranges, pinks, and some slight uses of blue and grey that are seen in only in the window and the daughter’s eyes. Below the total depiction of the mother and the child, as mentioned previously, the mother’s hand and the toddler’s body blend into nothing but these red, brown, orange and pink lines that are arguably symbolizing the bond between a mother and her child and their relationship intertwined. The warm toned colors in this piece reflect the warm feeling associated with the entire work of art, as each of the subjects are composed of variations of each of those neutral colors. The work is finished and complete with color from this palette through the detail of the toddler’s shoulders, to her face, to the mother’s chest and shoulders, up into the mother’s own face and her hair, teetering off into unfinished by the lack of pigment in the wall behind her. This muted red and brown palette reflects the warm and loving feeling associated with entirety of Mother and