Woman and Girl Driving

Mary Cassatt

1881

Painting

Oil on canvas

35 5/16 x 51 3/8 in (89.7 x 130.5 cm)

Mary Cassatt uses a three-quarters viewpoint to depict the figures in Woman and Girl Driving, which shows a modern woman in the driver's seat of the carriage next to a girl, with a man in the back. The emphasis is on the woman and girl, as the scene is cropped to feature them. She blurs the forms in the work and uses bright colors to create contrast between the most important figures and the rest of the painting. Cassatt was known for her unique taste in subject and style, which led her to become the only American painter invited to join the Impressionists in France.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

W1921-1-1

Creative Commons