The Boating Party
Mary Cassatt (1893–1894)
In The Boating Party, Mary Cassatt fuses <strong>intimate caregiving</strong> with <strong>modern mobility</strong>, compressing mother, child, and rower inside a skiff that cuts diagonals across ultramarine water. Bold arcs of citron paint and a high, flattened horizon reveal a deliberate <strong>Japonisme</strong> logic that stabilizes the scene even as motion surges around it <sup>[1]</sup>. The painting asserts domestic life as a public, modern subject while testing the limits of Impressionist space and color.
