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Degas studied his preferred subject, ballet performers, in hundreds of works. _Four Dancers_, one of the largest and most ambitious of his late works, exists in several variants that show different kinds and degrees of modification. While Degas suppressed descriptive detail elsewhere in the painting, emphatic dark lines shape the heads and arms, underlining the artist's formal concerns. Theatrical lighting over the off–stage performers recolors the figures and creates a simple color scheme of complementary red–orange and green hues.


Two of the figures repeat poses of a model who appears in a unique set of three photographic negatives. Shot between about 1895 and 1898, the original plates solarized into colors that resemble, in reverse, the oranges and greens in _Four Dancers_. Degas owned the photographic plates and may even have taken the pictures. The same model, hair piled on her head and features indistinct or hidden, posed for all three photographs, and the four dancers in the painting resemble her. Eadward Muybridge’s sequential photographs may also have influenced the arrangement of the four dancers, particularly his 1887 book, _Animal Locomotion_. Their poses, a succession of preparatory gestures, depict a progression of intricate movements.

Details

  • Title: Four Dancers
  • Creator: Edgar Degas
  • Date Created: c. 1899
  • Physical Dimensions: overall: 151.1 x 180.2 cm (59 1/2 x 70 15/16 in.) framed: 176.9 x 207.7 cm (69 5/8 x 81 3/4 in.)
  • Provenance: Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas [1830-1917], Paris, France; (Degas sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 6 May 1918, no. 10); purchased by (Trotti et Cie., Paris). Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen. (Galerie Barbazanges, Paris). (Durand-Ruel, Paris); sold November 1931 to Chester Dale [1882-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.[1] [1]Provenance according to Chester Dale papers and letter dated 18 May 1932 from Durand-Ruel, in NGA curatorial records. Sale to Chester Dale noted on the front page of _Art News_, 21 November 1931.
  • Medium: oil on canvas

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