Mary Cassatt, the independent one.

It's been a hundred years in the making. On the centenary of her death, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) is finally being featured in a major French national exhibition. The Musée d'Orsay is dedicating its first large-scale French retrospective to this American, a pillar of Impressionism. Independence guides the eighty paintings, pastels, and prints on display. Mary Cassatt won her over with her talent, invited by Degas to the Impressionist exhibitions as early as 1879, and then with her profession, by opening her studio and paying her models in a male-dominated environment. She also acquired it financially, buying a château in the Oise and advising American collectors.

“I am independent!” “I can live alone and I love to work.”

The highlight of the exhibition is Modern Woman, this monumental decoration commissioned for the Woman’s Pavilion at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Now lost, the work is reborn thanks to a digital reconstruction. Around it are paintings and pastels rarely seen in Europe, as well as the Ten Color Plates. Independence is finally affirmed in her commitment. Despite her family's opposition, Cassatt organized an exhibition in 1915 in New York, with Louisine Havemeyer, advocating for women's suffrage. A few works conclude the exhibition, restoring this pioneer to her rightful place.

MUSÉE D’ORSAY
From October 6, 2026 to January 31, 2027
Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 75007 Paris
Metro: Solférino (Line 12) – RER C: Musée d’Orsay
Tue. to Sun. 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thu. until late 9:45 PM
Closed on Mondays
Price: €14 - Reduced price: €11 Free for under 26s
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