At the Theater

c. 1879

Pastel on paper, 55.5 × 46.1 cm. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City

A red-haired woman in a yellow evening gown sits in a theater box, lit from behind by a chandelier. It is one of the theater scenes Cassatt made in the years she joined the Impressionists.

Theater and opera scenes were among her main subjects in the late 1870s and early 1880s.
Diagonal pastel strokes run through her hair, dress and the hall, so all share one artificial glow. Impressionist painters often made light, indoors or out, a subject in itself.
At right, a mirror seems to repeat her hair and shoulders.
Signed lower left. The Nelson-Atkins bought it with an anonymous gift.

In the evening, women in boxes wore low-cut gowns under bright gas and chandelier light. The glare and reflections of the hall gave painters a modern subject.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain