The Boating Party

In the pictureSeen from above, three people sit in a small boat. At the front right, a man in a dark navy suit and hat sits with his back to us, leaning forward as he rows. Facing him, a woman in a sky-blue dress crossed with pink stripes and a pale green hat holds a baby in pink on her lap and looks toward the man. The baby wears blue socks and brown shoes. The inside of the boat is a vivid yellow-green, its outer rim is white, and an oar and a crossbar cut across the picture. At the left hangs a pale green sail filled with wind. At the top edge, above the blue waves, a green shore and white buildings appear as a narrow strip.

BackgroundMary Cassatt, a native of Pittsburgh who worked in Paris, painted it between 1893 and 1894. She took part in the Impressionist exhibitions at Degas's invitation and painted many pictures of mothers and children. From 1893 on she often spent summers at Antibes on the Mediterranean coast, experimenting with stronger, more decorative color. The flat areas of color, the high horizon, and the oblique viewpoint show the clear influence of the Japanese prints then fashionable in Paris. It hung as the centerpiece of her first solo exhibition in America, in 1895.

Puzzle tipThe color areas are large and simple, so the picture is easy to divide. First assemble the man's navy back, the green inside of the boat, and its white rim, which form the big curve across the lower half. Next come the woman and the baby. The pink stripes of the sky-blue dress and the baby's pink clothes are clear clues. The blue water is broad, but use the strip of shoreline at the top and the edge of the sail at the left as references, and find positions by the difference in the brushwork, which is broad at the lower left and fine near the top. 100 pieces is recommended.