Friday Art Fix

Mary Cassatt, Breakfast in Bed, oil on canvas, 1897

"The subject of a woman and child is a recurring theme in her [Mary Cassatt's] work and this particular example is an especially telling treatment of the subject. With the child centrally placed in an upright pose, Cassatt depicts a quiet but charged moment in which a mother embraces her daughter, whose attention is elsewhere. Contrasting the mother's protective action and gaze with her offspring's curiosity with the world beyond her reach, Cassatt evokes the subtle tensions implicit in the relationship of parent to child." Source.