American Woman with a Pearl Necklace & Pink Dress Button

This design features a painting by American artist Mary Stevenson Cassatt. It shows a lady seated on a plush red chair at the Paris Opera House; she is wearing an elegant pink dress and white gloves. Behind her there is a mirror, which is reflecting the woman's back and the scene in front of her, thereby showing us her view. Mary Cassatt took great care in trying to capture the subtle effects of artificial lighting on skin tones. The style, employing bright colors and quick brushstrokes, appears to be heavily influenced by the impressionist movement. The original painting was completed in 1879, and it is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in the American state of Pennsylvania.