Edgar Degas

Degas, Hilaire-Germain-Edgar

French, 1834 - 1917

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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.”
Edgar Degas, Ballet Scene, c. 1907, pastel on greenish transparent tracing paper, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.16

Ballet Scene

Edgar Degas · c. 1907 · pastel on greenish transparent tracing paper ·  Accession ID  1963.10.16

Edgar Degas, Dancer Holding Her Right Foot in Her Right Hand, possibly 1900/1911, pigmented beeswax, plastiline, metal armature, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.56

Dancer Holding Her Right Foot in Her Right Hand

Edgar Degas · possibly 1900/1911 · pigmented beeswax, plastiline, metal armature, on wooden base ·  Accession ID  1985.64.56

Edgar Degas, Dancer Holding Her Right Foot in Her Right Hand, possibly 1900/1911, pigmented beeswax, metal armature, wood?, cork, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.53

Dancer Holding Her Right Foot in Her Right Hand

Edgar Degas · possibly 1900/1911 · pigmented beeswax, metal armature, wood?, cork, on wooden base ·  Accession ID  1985.64.53

Four light-skinned ballerinas with russet-orange hair tied back in buns adjust the straps of their bodices as they gather close together, their bodies and wide, knee-length tutus taking up the left half of this horizontal painting. The background or backdrop beyond them shows a grove of deep green trees to our left and a sunset view of meadows leading back to trees to our right. Three of the dancers stand in a row that extends from the lower left corner to our right and away from us. All three wear rust-orange bodices over tutus that are painted loosely with flecks of pale celery green and buttercup yellow against a muted royal-blue background. Their bodices and upper bodies are outlined with black. The woman closest to us stands with her body angled to our right. Her face turns away as she looks to her left and adjusts that shoulder strap. The two dancers farther from us stand with their backs to us, their bodies angled away from us to our left. The middle dancer looks back over her right shoulder as she lifts the other elbow to adjust that strap. The third dancer in the row holds both hands to her right strap as she looks off into the distance, to our left. The fourth ballerina, to our far left beyond this trio, stands with the arm we can see, her left, lifted with her hand held high as she looks off to our right. Her bodice is a brighter carrot orange, and is more loosely painted. The green foliage behind the dancers extends off the top edge of the painting. The pale sage-green field to the right stretches before puffy, rounded trees daubed with mauve-pink highlights. The coral-pink and golden yellow sky is streaked with lavender-gray clouds. The artist signed his name in red paint with tiny, almost illegible letters in the lower right corner, “Degas.”
Edgar Degas, Four Dancers, c. 1899, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.122

Four Dancers

Edgar Degas · c. 1899 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.122

Edgar Degas, Jockey, c. 1898, washed pastel and transferred pastel, Gift of Mrs. Jane C. Carey as an addition to the Addie Burr Clark Memorial Collection, 1959.12.10

Jockey

Edgar Degas · c. 1898 · washed pastel and transferred pastel ·  Accession ID  1959.12.10

Edgar Degas, Woman Stretching, c. 1896/1911, pigmented beeswax, metal armature, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.55

Woman Stretching

Edgar Degas · c. 1896/1911 · pigmented beeswax, metal armature, on wooden base ·  Accession ID  1985.64.55

Edgar Degas, Pregnant Woman, c. 1896/1911, pigmented beeswax, plastiline, metal armature, cork, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.54

Pregnant Woman

Edgar Degas · c. 1896/1911 · pigmented beeswax, plastiline, metal armature, cork, on wooden base ·  Accession ID  1985.64.54

Edgar Degas, After the Bath: Woman Drying Herself, c. 1900, charcoal and pastel on tracing paper, Bequest of William B. Jordan and Robert Dean Brownlee, 2019.45.21

After the Bath: Woman Drying Herself

Edgar Degas · c. 1900 · charcoal and pastel on tracing paper ·  Accession ID  2019.45.21

Edgar Degas, Head, Study for a Portrait of Mme Salle, original clay c. 1892, cast 1920/1926, copper alloy, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.16

Head, Study for a Portrait of Mme Salle

Edgar Degas · original clay c. 1892, cast 1920/1926 · copper alloy ·  Accession ID  1995.47.16

Edgar Degas, The Masseuse, Group, mid 1890s, plastiline, metal armature, wood, cork, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.61

The Masseuse, Group

Edgar Degas · mid 1890s · plastiline, metal armature, wood, cork, on wooden base ·  Accession ID  1985.64.61

Bibliography

1918

  • Lafond, Paul. Degas. 2 vols. Paris, 1918-1919.

1921

  • Ref Numbers: 657, 658
    Lugt, Frits. Les marques de collections de dessins & d'estampes; marques estampillees et ecrites de collections. Amsterdam: Vereenigde drukkerijen, 1921.

1924

  • Vollard, Ambroise. Degas (1834-1917). Paris, 1924.

1944

  • Rewald, John. Degas, Works in Sculpture: A Complete Catalogue. Translated by John Coleman and Noel Moulton. New York, 1944.

1946

  • Lemoisne, Paul André. Degas et son oeuvre. 4 vols. Paris, 1946-1949.

1956

  • Rewald, John. Degas Sculpture: The Complete Works. Translated by John Coleman and Noel Moulton. New York, 1956.

1976

  • Millard, Charles W. The Sculpture of Edgar Degas. Princeton, 1976.

1984

  • Lemoisne, Paul-André. Degas et son Oeuvre. 5 vols. New York, 1984 (reprint of Paris edition, 1946-1949).

  • McMullen, Roy. Degas: His Life, Times, and Work. Boston, 1984.

1986

  • Vollard, Ambroise. Degas: An Intimate Portrait. Translated by Randolph T. Weaver. New York, 1986.

1991

  • Loyrette, Henri. Degas. Paris, 1991.

  • Pingeot, Anne. Degas Sculptures. Paris, 1991.

2002

  • Czestochowski, Joseph S., and Anne Pingeot. Degas--Sculptures. Catalogue Raisonné of the Bronzes. Memphis, 2002.

2010

  • Lindsay, Suzanne Glover, Daphne S. Barbour, and Shelley G. Sturman. Edgar Degas Sculpture. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2010: 5-45.