Children Playing on the Beach is an 1884 painting in the Impressionist style by the leading American painter and printmaker Mary Cassatt.
It was painted a mere two years after the death of her adored sister Lydia and Cassatt could have painted in this 1884 picture an idealized memory of their relationship.
Two little girls sit close together occupied with their buckets and spades and are painted with a high degree of realism. The relationship is literally and conceptually foregrounded as the two children take up the majority of the picture space.
Beyond is the sea with sailing boats that are painted very sketchily as if the background is merely a dreamlike backdrop to a sacred bond.
Mary Cassatt’s Children Playing on the Beach is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C, United States.