Woman Viewed from Behind (Visit to a Museum)
c. 1879-1885
Artist, French, 1834 - 1917

Museums can be places to look at not only art but also people. Here, Degas shows an elegantly dressed woman—likely his friend and fellow artist Mary Cassatt — at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The strips of yellow and orange in front of her are frames: she is inspecting paintings.
But the works themselves, a blur of colors, are not Degas’s interest. His focus is on the figure. With this shift in emphasis, Degas asks us what it means to look and to be looked at. What does the woman see? With her back to us, does she know she is being observed? Can we ever know?

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 86
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 81.3 x 75.6 cm (32 x 29 3/4 in.)
framed: 114.3 x 107.9 x 11.1 cm (45 x 42 1/2 x 4 3/8 in.) -
Accession
1985.64.11
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas [1830-1917], Paris, the artist; (Degas sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 11 December 1918, no. 20). Mme. Friedmann, Paris, by 1935;[1] by inheritance to Mme René Dujarric de la Rivière, Boulogne, France, by 1960.[2] (Wildenstein and Co., New York); sold 1973 to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift 1985 to NGA.
[1]Published as Friedmann collection by Riviere 1935, p. 24. [2]Per label on back, lent by Mme R. Dujarric de la Rivière to 1960 exhibition at Durand-Ruel. Relationship between Mme Friedmann and Mme Dujarric according to Wildenstein précis dated 1973, in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1955
Degas dans les collections françaises, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1955, no. 73, as La visite au musée.
1960
Edgar Degas 1834-1917, Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1960, no. 19, repro., as La visite au musée.
1978
Degas, Virginia Museum, Richmond, 1978, no. 10, as Woman Seen from Behind (The Visit to the Museum).
1979
19th and 20th Century French Painting from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1979 (long term exhibition), checklist no. 24.
1986
Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist.
1988
Degas, Grand Palais, Paris; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988-1989.
1994
Degas -- Portraits, Kunsthaus Zürich, 1994-1995, no. 172, repro., as Visiting the museum.
1998
Loan to display with permanent collection, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1998.
1999
An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no cat.
2000
Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890, National Gallery, London; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 2000-2001, fig. 149 (shown only in Williamstown).
2003
Degas and the Italians in Paris, Exhibit Halls, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara; Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2003-2004, not in cat. (shown only in Edinburgh).
2015
Degas, an Impressionist Painter?, Musée des impressionnismes, Giverny, 2015, no. 36, repro.
2017
Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade, Saint Louis Art Museum; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 2017, no. 31, repro (shown only in San Francisco).
Bibliography
1918
"Movement des Arts: Atelier Edgar Degas." La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité (April-May 1918):102
1935
Rivière, Georges. M. Degas. Bourgois de Paris. Paris, 1935:repro.
1970
Minervino, Fiorella. L'opera completa di Degas. Milan, 1970: no. 456, repro., as Signora in un Museo.
1980
Terrasse, Antoine. Die Gro en Meister der Malerei: Edgar Degas. Frankfurt, 1980:no. 320, repro., as Frau in einem Museum.
1984
Lemoisne, Paul-Andre. Degas et son oeuvre. 5 vols. New York and London, 1984:II:no. 465, repro.
2017
Hoenigswald, Ann, and Kimberly A. Jones. "The Question of Finish in the Work of Edgar Degas." In Degas, Daphne Barbour and Suzanne Quillen Lomax, eds. Facture. Conservation, Science, Art History 3 (2017): 20-49, esp. 23, fig. 1.
Inscriptions
lower right: Degas
Wikidata ID
Q20188855