Woman with a Sunflower
Mary Cassatt·1905
Historical Context
Woman with a Sunflower (1905, National Gallery of Art) belongs to Cassatt's late career, when gardening and flowers had become increasingly important subjects as her eyesight declined and she spent more time at her country home, the Château de Beaufresne north of Paris. The sunflower's bold, graphic form appealed to painters across the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist spectrum; Van Gogh had famously worked with the subject in 1888. For Cassatt the sunflower provides a vibrant, large-form element that she could handle with confidence even as fine detail became more difficult.
Technical Analysis
The large sunflower provides a bold, centralized compositional element that Cassatt renders with confident, firm strokes. The flower's geometric center and radiating petals offer a structural clarity that suits her late style's tendency toward simplified form. Warm yellows and golds dominate a palette enlivened by the green stem and leaves.
