Il palco

By 1878 Mary Cassatt, an American in Paris, had thrown in her lot with the Impressionists after Edgar Degas invited her to exhibit with them. A theater box was a favorite subject for that circle, because the opera was one place respectable women could be seen in public, and being seen was half the point. Here two young girls share a loge, one clutching a fan, dressed up perhaps for an early outing to the opera. Cassatt built the picture with loose, bright brushwork and set the pair against the curved gilt railing of the box, a stage within a stage. Behind them the tiers of the auditorium blur into warm light and the pink of other spectators.