The Loge

Few pastimes better captured the rituals of modern Parisian life than the theatre, and the view from inside the opera box became one of Mary Cassatt’s most enduring subjects. Painted about 1878-1880, The Loge places two young women at the theatre, where the pleasures of watching and of being watched coincide — the very ambiguity the Impressionists prized in contemporary social display. The firm modeling of the figures and the close, settled view distinguish Cassatt within the group, whose male members preferred the more casual encounters of café and boulevard life. The canvas was acquired by the National Gallery of Art in 1963, a highlight of its Cassatt holdings.