Morisot and Cassatt: Painting On Their Own Terms

A woman raises her opera glasses – but across the theatre, a man is watching her. Who, exactly, is looking at whom?

Mary Cassatt’s In the Loge opens a fascinating exploration of two women who challenged the conventions of both art and society. Through Morisot’s shimmering interiors and Cassatt’s unconventional portraits, Rose reveals artists of fierce ambition, negotiating family expectations, artistic friendships and professional independence. From Morisot’s artistic exchanges with Manet to Cassatt’s creative partnership with Degas, their stories illuminate paintings in which apparent intimacy conceals considerable daring. Far from being simply observers of domestic life, these were artists determined to shape the future of modern painting.