Little Girl in a Blue Armchair

The model was the daughter of Degas's friends. She sits freely rather than holding a formal adult pose. Cassatt treated children as individuals with their own states of attention. Large chairs and a dog establish the surroundings in which the girl spends her time.

The girl sprawls across the blue chair. Her arms and legs retain a child's way of occupying the whole seat.

A small dog curls on another chair. Its stillness belongs to the same domestic space.

The child's head rests near a bent arm. Cassatt retains a resting pose unsuitable for a formal portrait but familiar in daily life.

Blue upholstered chairs repeat in the background. The large furniture establishes the room's scale around the small person.

A black shoe with a bright buckle points toward the foreground. Its angle makes the legs' relaxed position especially apparent.

Cassatt knew the model through her close colleague Edgar Degas. Domestic scenes and children's portraits became central to her work. Here the pose preserves the child's independent behavior without requiring an invented account of her mood.