The Boating Party Analysis

The painting The Boating Party by Mary Cassatt depicts a man rowing a woman and her child along the ocean. The man rowing the boat is sitting facing a beautiful green landscape; however we can only see his back and half of his face. The woman who is seated on the opposite side appears to be enjoying the ride as she is holding her child. This painting dates back to 1893 though 1894; its dimensions are 35 inches by 46 inches. In contrast the painting Happy Accidents of the swing is by Jean-Honore Fragonard, and this painting portrays a young woman seated on a swing that is located in an overgrown garden while being pushed by a man that seems to be hiding in the shadows. We can also see a young man in the lower left reclining in the bushes, one arm outstretched towards the young woman skirts, his other arm holding his balance as he admires her. This painting was created in 1767 and its dimensions are 31 inches by 25 inches. Both of these paintings

Cassatt uses implied to create organic shapes such as the wide boat, and the oar the man is using. The dress the woman is wearing and the child’s attire are both covered in patterns of implied lines. Lines are implied where areas of color meet, such as the white border of the boat touching the blue water and the figures sitting on the yellow benches of the boat. Cassatt and Fragonard both used implied lines to draw the people, which create an implied mass of the figures; this in my eyes brings the people to life. The boat in Cassatt’s painting has an implied mass and this makes the viewer feel as if they can jump right into the boat; it gives the painting a sense of reality. Fragonard uses implied lines to draw all the bushes, trees and statues. We can also see implies lines in Fragonard painting where areas of color meet, for example as the man on the bottom left corner is laying on the green bush and also as the man in the back is blending in with the dark shadows of the