‘The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit’ (1882) by John Singer Sargent is beautiful and unnerving at the same time. It shows four young girls at different stages in their lives, from toddler to young adolescent. Just after its completion, art critics simply interpreted it as a painting of girls at play, but as the years passed, people noticed more layers. The vases have even been interpreted as two absent parents. Even though the painting shows the girls together in a room, they still seem lonely. They’re together, but alone. The composition turned out to be somewhat of a mirror of the girls’ futures. None of them would marry, they lived pretty solitary lives, and the two eldest girls, retreated in the shadows, suffered from emotional disturbances when they grew older. In 1919 the four sisters donated the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. #arthistory #johnsingersargent #americanart