Image: public domain, courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago

The Child's Bath

Mary Cassatt, 1893

A woman gently washes a little child's foot in a basin, holding the child safely on her lap as both look down at the water. Mary Cassatt shows this quiet everyday moment from above, as if we were standing right beside them.

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Did you know?

We look down on the scene from above, an unusual angle that Cassatt's friend Edgar Degas also liked to use.
A large exhibition of Japanese prints in Paris in 1890 inspired Cassatt's flat shapes, bold patterns and bright colours.
Look for the striped dress, the patterned carpet, the flowered wallpaper and the painted furniture.
It was first shown in Paris in 1893 at the gallery of the dealer Durand-Ruel, under the title La Toilette de l'Enfant.
Cassatt was born in Pennsylvania, settled in Paris, and was the only American officially part of the Impressionist group.
The Art Institute of Chicago bought the painting in 1910, and it has stayed there ever since.

About the artist

Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) was born near Pittsburgh in the United States, studied art in Philadelphia and made Paris her home for the rest of her life.

Edgar Degas invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists, and from 1879 she showed her work with them, becoming famous for tender scenes of mothers and children.

She encouraged wealthy American friends to buy Impressionist paintings, and many of the works she helped choose for the Havemeyer family are now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Mary Cassatt ›

Where it is today: The Art Institute of Chicago · Museum page