Mary Cassatt by Edgar Degas. Edgar Degas lived from 1834 to 1917 and Mary Cassatt lived from 1844 to 1926; they met in 1875. He was 41 and she was 31. As a contemporary described them:"The state of their friendship was like a changing magnetic field in which objects are given motion by attraction and repulsion". There were no tragedies or scandals. Their love simply grew into a part of the artistic life of Paris.