Mary Cassat: After Impressionism

Now on view through January 3, 2027, the Art Institute of Chicago presents its first major exhibition dedicated to Mary Cassatt in more than 25 years, marking the centennial of the artist’s death in 1926.

Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism brings together more than 75 paintings, works on paper, and archival materials, focusing on the years following Cassatt’s final exhibition with the Impressionists in 1886. Although she remained based in Paris and closely connected to French artistic circles, including her friendship with Edgar Degas, Cassatt increasingly developed an independent artistic vision centered on the everyday lives of women and caregivers.

A highlight is the reconstruction of Modern Woman, Cassatt’s ambitious—and now-lost—mural created for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Commissioned by Bertha Honoré Palmer for the Woman’s Building, the monumental work celebrated women’s education, creativity, and cultural life through scenes of women and girls in an orchard, making music, dancing, and pursuing their dreams.

The exhibition offers a renewed look at Cassatt’s work as both painter and printmaker, while highlighting her sustained and innovative exploration of women’s lives.

This exhibition is curated by Annelise K. Madsen, Gilda and Henry Buchbinder Curator, Arts of the Americas, Art Institute of Chicago.