"Young Woman Sewing in a Garden" - Mary Cassat

Have you ever looked at a painting and have it capture you? In Mary Cassatt’s painting, Young Woman Sewing in a Garden, she is trying to show innocence. In order to understand the painting and her message, you must first be able to describe the painting.

There are many things to see in Mary Cassatt’s painting. There is a beautiful young lady sewing in a garden. Wearing a plain dress on a warm day. A very proper, elegant, and innocent lady in the 1800’s, she is sitting and sewing amongst the many orange flowers. She appears very concentrated on her project.

Cassatt uses the elements of balance and color very well in her painting. The girl in Cassatt’s painting is in the central triangle using balanced and harmonious cool colors. Cassatt uses cool colors by using heavy shades of green and off whites. The green being the trees and the bushes in the background, and the off white in her dress. Amongst the cool colors, Cassatt included splash of warm colors by putting orange in the flowers gathered around the girl. The girl is in the central triangle and the background turns into two separate triangles. The path follows our natural line of sight.

There is a sense of peace in Cassatt’s painting. The girl is sewing in a garden rather than a factory during the Industrial Revolution. Cassatt seems to be saying that there are great differences between the upper class and those that had to work in factories. This young woman in the painting is very blessed because she has not been affected by the Industrial Revolution in a negative way.

I like Cassatt’s painting because there is such a sense of being elegant and the fact that she seems as if she can’t be disturbed. Innocence is being shown in Cassatt’s painting with the young woman sewing. This is a marvelous piece of art that deserves to be exhibited in galleries.