Mary Cassatt was an American painter who spent most of her career living and working in Paris, where she became a close friend of Impressionist painters like Edgar Degas. She was one of only three women invited to exhibit with the Impressionists in Paris, and was best known for tender, intimate paintings of mothers and children. She also advised wealthy American collectors on buying Impressionist art, helping bring major French paintings into U.S. museum collections. As one of the few women in the Impressionist circle, she helped bring American attention to modern French art.