The Boating Party

Mary Cassatt painted this bold composition during a summer at Antibes on the French Riviera in 1893. A man rows a boat while a woman holds a child in the stern. The simplified forms and strong colors show the influence of Japanese prints.

Cassatt was the only American to exhibit with the French Impressionists. Here she pushes beyond Impressionism toward a more modern flatness. The oarsman's dark silhouette creates a powerful diagonal against the Mediterranean blue.

It is a highlight of the National Gallery of Art and one of Cassatt's most ambitious works.