The Blue Room

This painting has an air of sensual abandon surrounding the little girl depicted by Mary Cassatt. The painting was rejected by the Exposition Universelle in 1878. Degas, who had made the acquaintance of this American artist then living in Paris, was to persuade her to exhibit with the Impressionists from 1879 onward. Mary Cassatt is known to have played a considerable role in the success that the Impressionists were later to enjoy among her wealthier American friends.