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Edgar Degas

Ballet Girl, ca. 1886-1888

Description

Maker

Title

Ballet Girl

Year

ca. 1886-1888

Medium

Pastel on blue laid paper (now faded)

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Dimensions

45.7 x 28.6 cm (18 x 11 1/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Stamped, in red ink, at LL: Degas (Lugy 658). Atelier stamp on verso: (Lugt 657).

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

23.038

Projects & Publications

Publications

Selection V

French Watercolors and Drawings, ca. 1800-1910

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

From Dürer to Van Gogh

June 5 - October 26, 2008

The red stamp on the lower left of this drawing indicates that it was part of Degas’s personal collection, which was sold in 1918. Seen from above, the dancer faces right, her body bent slightly forward as she adjusts her bodice. Light penetrates her gauzy tutu from the rear right, revealing her legs underneath. Rather than detailing her appearance or physiognomy, Degas rendered her volume and outline with a solid, massive line, eliminating all that is nonessential. In passages near the dancer’s right arm and leg, the use of blue chalk served to cover the multiple contours on the now-faded blue paper, as well as to provide a shadow for the figure.

Inventing Impressionism

October 21, 2016 - June 11, 2017

In this drawing of a dancer, Degas focused on the effects of artificial light on form and movement. Using a solid line to contrast the transparency of the girl’s gauzy tutu, he reworked the dancer’s right arm and leg before settling on the gesture seen here, in which she adjusts her bodice.

The vivid blue chalk used around the dancer’s legs and chest would have matched the original color of the sheet, which has faded over time. Degas frequently used brightly hued papers to give his drawings a sense of luminosity.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Ballet Girl with the accession number of 23.038. To request a higher resolution file, please submit an online request.