Dancer - Edgar Degas

Dancer by Edgar Degas - Theatre Paintings from Hermitage Museum

Painting Detail

Dancer
Artist: Edgar Degas
Medium: Painting, Oil on canvas, 40.5x32.7 cm
Date: c. 1874
Genre: Theatre
Source: Formerly in the collection of Otto Krebs, Holzdorf


The present study from the Krebs collection shows the dancer in a white tatu, with her elbows out and forward. It is astonishing that with essentially the same movement, Degas could express such different feelings, whether the ballerina's fatigue , or the fastidious adjustment of her costume or hairdo, or the urgent motion of the dance itself. The rich potential of such transformations was significant, tempting Degas to keep returning to them.