Greetings! My name is Mary Cassatt. I am an American painter. I was born on May 22, 1844 in Allegheny City, which is now Pittsburg, PA. I passed away on June 14, 1926. I spent five years in Europe when I was an young adult.
When I was in France, I became friends with Edgar Degas. Edgar helped me publish my work and show the public my impressionism. I admired him greatly and I remember putting my nose against his window looking at his art.
I enjoy painting images of social and private lives of women and children. My family (mostly my father) objected my love for becoming a professional artist. I followed my dream and went to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. I soon realized that the school was slow paced. I decided to move to Paris and teach myself.
Along my journey, I met new people that helped me become the artist I wanted to be. In 1870, I moved back to the United States. I put two paintings in New York but no one bought them. Later I was diagnosed with diabetes, rheumatism, neuralgia, and cataracts in 1911. I had to stop painting because I was going blind. I died on June 14, 1926 near Paris. I was buried in a family vault in France. As of 2005, my paintings have sold for 2.87 million dollars.
My Friends
Elizabeth Jane Gardner
Edgar Degas
Gustave Geffroy
Robert Henri
Camille Pissaro
Art Movement
I was part of the Impressionism Movement. That movement was where early artists were interested in recording the pleasures of the landscape for the modern city dweller. The style of Impressionism began around 1870 and comtinued into the mid-1880s before it moved slowly into the period of Post- Impressionism.