"The misunderstanding in art has arisen from the fact that forty years ago -- to be exact thirty-nine years ago -- when Degas and Monet, Renoir and I first exhibited, the public did not understand, only the 'élite' bought and time has proved their knowledge. Though the Public in those days did not understand, the artists did. ... Now the Public say -- the foreign public -- Degas and the others were laughed at; well, we will be wiser than they."
- Mary Cassatt letter to Ellen Mary Cassatt, 26 March 1913
