Edgar Degas

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.

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.