Cecilia Beaux strayed away from the conventional expectations of women within her time as she focused more heavily on her career and societal impact as an influential figure painter than the work of a house hold wife. Beaux is notable for her work as a societal portraitist as she aimed to capture cultural and societal tensions. Despite her successes, Beaux had a relatively limited education in the arts as she studied at the Pennslyvania Academy of the Arts and privately with, professional painter, William Sartain. The time in her private studies led Beaux to complete the piece that truly set her career in motion, Les Derniers Jours d’Enfance. The piece was displayed at the American Art Association Prize Fund Exhibition and at the Pennsylvania Academy’s 1885 annual exhibition; winning the Mary Smith art prize. As Beaux kept developing her work, she began experimenting with a greater use of bright pastel colors in the 1890s. Beaux employed colorful accents reminiscent of the Impressionist palette and element of light manipulation. Beaux later became the first woman to teach artistic disciplines at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Work Below, Respectively: Twilight Confidences,1888| Ernesta| Les Derniers jours d’enfance, 1885| Sita and Sarita,1921