Denise at Her Dressing Table

• Mary Cassatt (1844–1926)
• ca. 1908–1909
• Oil on canvas
• Bequest of Gioconda King, 2004
• (2005.129)

The theme of women looking into a mirror has long been associated with vanity and self-reflection, and Mary Cassatt reinterpreted this classical subject with a modern sensibility. The sitter, Denise, wears a white gown edged with pale pink and holds a hand mirror. Her fashionable upswept hairstyle is also reflected in the mirror above the dressing table behind her. Painted late in Cassatt’s career, when her eyesight had begun to fail, the work still demonstrates her mastery in the rendering of facial features, the figure, and the gown, as well as in the subtle modulation of color.