Ballet Scene

c. 1907

Edgar Degas

Artist, French, 1834 - 1917

Six pink-skinned ballerinas stretch of practice in this horizontal pastel drawing. The scene is roughly sketched so some details, like the women’s faces, are indistinct. They all have brown hair and costumes with sleeveless bodices and knee-length tutus. Three dancers cluster close to us. Two at the front have tutus shaded with peacock blue and amethyst purple and dotted with spring green. The bodices of these two and the one standing behind them are copper orange. The woman to our right holds both hands to the small of her back. Another touches her hair with both hands, and the third stands with her feet apart in fourth position, toes pointing outward, and hands clasped gracefully down in front of her. The other three dancers wear pale pink bodices and tutus that match the color of their skin. Taking up the left half of the composition and moving slightly back in space, one dancer leans forward with one arm raised, and the other two bend double to brush one hand by their feet. The floor is tawny brown. The background is loosely drawn with strokes of lime green, pale pink, teal blue, and sand brown. The artist’s name appeared in the lower left corner, “Degas.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pastel on greenish transparent tracing paper

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 76.8 x 111.2 cm (30 1/4 x 43 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.16

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Lemoisne 1946, no. 1459

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Atelier Degas, Vente 1:210; (Jacques Seligmann et Cie, Paris); (sale, New York, Hotel Plaza, 27 January 1921, no. 57); Scott and Fowles, New York (sale, American Art Association, 19 November 1926, no. 41); Chester Dale, New York, 1926; gift to NGA, 1963.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1931

  • Degas and His Tradition. Museum of French Art, French Institute in the United States, New York, 1931, no. 5.

1984

  • Degas: The Dancers, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1984-1985, no. 47, repro.

2001

  • A Century of Drawing, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001-2002, no. 9.

2019

  • Degas at the Opera, Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2019-2020, no. 182, repro. (shown only in Washington)

Bibliography

1929

  • Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 28, repro.

1946

  • Lemoisne, Paul André. Degas et son oeuvre. 4 vols. Paris: Arts et metiers graphiques, 1946-1949. Vols. 2 and 3, 1946. Reprinted in 5 vols., New York and London, 1984.

1949

  • Browse, Lillian. Degas Dancers. London, 1949: 409, pl. 232.

1958

  • Cabanne, Pierre. Edgar Degas. Paris, 1958: 124.

1965

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 79, repro.

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 39.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 32, repro.

1969

  • Werner, Alfred. Degas Pastels. New York, 1969: 52-53, no. 17.

1970

  • Minervino, Fiorella. L'Opera Completa di Degas. Milan, 1970: no. 1156.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 96, repro.

1982

  • Roosa, Wayne L. "Degas' Photographic Portrait of Renoir and Mallarmé: An Interpretation." Rutgers Art Review 3 (1982): 96, no. 12.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 478, no. 707, color repro.

  • Lemoisne, Paul-André. Degas et son Oeuvre. 5 vols. New York, 1984: 3: 830-831, no. 1459.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 119, repro.

1988

  • Boggs, Jean Sutherland, et al. Degas. Exh. cat. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, 576, 578-579, fig. 330.

1989

  • Fletcher, Shelley, and Pia DeSantis. "Degas: the search for his technique continues," The Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1033 (April 1989): 263, 265, fig. 12.

1992

  • Boggs, Jean Sutherland, and Maheux, Anne. Degas Pastels. New York, 1992, 158, no. 61.

1996

  • Kendall, Richard. Degas beyond Impressionism. Exh. cat. The National Gallery, London and The Art Institute of Chicago, 1996-1997, 131.

2001

  • A Century of Drawing. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001: no. 9.

2019

  • Schulman, Michael.Edgar Degas, Digital Critical Catalogue. MS-455.

Inscriptions

lower left Degas atelier stamp (Lugt 657)

Watermarks

Canson-Montgolfier

Wikidata ID

Q64556347

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