Cassatt uses bold, dark colors to depict the boatman and bright yellow to contrast the boat and its passengers.

[1] Griselda Pollock notes that the man in the painting is dressed in a refined version of the local fisherman’s clothing which is shown through the sash around his waist and the floppy beret atop his head.

[2] The art historian Adelyn Breeskin notes that Impressionism, Japanese printmaking, and Correggio’s Madonna and Child all shaped the style of The Boating Party.

[1] The vibrancy of the woman and child, as well as the boat and sea, are indicative of this Impressionist emphasis on bright colors based on plein air observation.

The cropped view of the boat and the asymmetrical composition also suggest the influence of Ukiyo-e prints, which interested Cassatt.

[18] Though the roles of each figure in the painting are unclear, Griselda Pollock believes that Cassatt is referencing the family dynamic of the late 1800s.

[18] Cassatt, according to Pollock, may have been attempting to show that while the man focuses on his work (i.e. rowing), the woman watches over the child.

Cassatt, who was known for associating women with nature, creativity, and renewal, may have placed the woman and child as the focal point of the painting because she wanted to show the importance of the mother role in society.

This fact, Pollock indicates, was meant to show the physical and psychological distance of the man from the other occupants of the boat.

[18] Several scholars have suggested that Cassatt wished to make the mother and child the focal point of the painting by positioning them at the intersection of the diagonal lines formed by the oar, the sail, and the man's arm.