Mary Cassatt: Embracing Independence — The Major Impressionist Exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay

Bold and contemporary, Mary Cassatt asserts her distinctive style and her freedom within Impressionism. From October 6, 2026, to January 31, 2027, the Musée d’Orsay celebrates her hundredth birthday with the exhibition "Mary Cassatt: The Choice of Independence," showcasing nearly 80 rare works.

Bold, determined, and proudly modern. From October 6, 2026, to January 31, 2027, the Musée d’Orsay opens its doors to Mary Cassatt, a central figure of the Impressionist movement and a fiercely independent artist committed to forging her own professional path. On the occasion of her centenary, the exhibition "Mary Cassatt: The Choice of Independence" celebrates a career marked by boldness, talent, and resolve—spanning from Paris to Boston, with a touch of London along the way.

Showcasing nearly 80 works — including pastels, paintings, and prints — rarely seen outside American or European collections, the exhibition reveals the many facets of the American painter. It features her portraits of loved ones, her elegant women depicted in scenes of modern conquest, and luminous images of mothers and children that come alive with vibrant colors and capture the dynamics of everyday life. For the artist, independence was a tangible practice: she established her own studio, employed paid models, and actively participated in Impressionist exhibitions starting in 1879, inviting Edgar Degas as one of her supporters.

But Mary Cassatt was more than just a painter. She created works, offered advice, and amassed a collection: her deep knowledge of the art market and her role as a consultant for American collectors helped shape major Impressionist collections across the United States. The exhibition also highlights her monumental commission for the Women’s Pavilion at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago—now lost, but reconstructed through digital restoration footage—and her series of prints, Dix Planches en couleurs, which served as a experimental ground for formal innovation and progressive ideas about women’s education.

Ultimately, the independence of the Impressionist painter goes beyond the realm of art. A passionate supporter of women's suffrage, she helped organize in 1915 in New York, alongside Louisine Havemeyer, an exhibition dedicated to advancing women's right to vote. The journey concludes with these remarkable works.

Through this exhibition, the Musée d’Orsay highlights an artist who championed independence as both a creative and a personal principle.