Victoria Dubourg
Edgar Degas1868 - 1869
The Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo, United States
Although this portrait seems to present “slice of life” informality, Edgar Degas went to great lengths to compose the painting to his satisfaction. His effort to work out specific details as well as the overall composition is recorded in a sketchbook sheet and three other known drawings. Degas’s revisions can also be seen on the canvas itself. On the wall above the woman’s head, you might be able to make out the two framed pictures that Degas decided to remove by reworking the paint surface.
The woman depicted in the portrait, Victoria Dubourg (1840–1926), was an acquaintance of Degas’s. A painter herself, she met the artist Henri Fantin-Latour while they both were sketching in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. They became engaged in 1869, eventually marrying in 1878. Dubourg moved in a circle of artists and writers and earned a modest reputation for her still life paintings, to which Degas no doubt alludes by including a vase of lilacs.
- Title: Victoria Dubourg
- Creator: Edgar Degas
- Creator Lifespan: 1834 - 1917
- Creator Nationality: French
- Creator Gender: male
- Creator Death Place: Paris, France
- Creator Birth Place: Paris, France
- Date Created: 1868 - 1869
- Physical Location: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
- Location Created: Europe, France
- Physical Dimensions: Painting: 32 x 25 1/2 in. (81.3 x 64.8 cm) Frame: 40 1/4 x 33 3/4 x 3 3/8 in. (102.2 x 85.7 x 8.6 cm)
- Subject Keywords: portrait; interior scene; chair; dress; seated; vase; flowers; lilacs; artist; counter; dresser; furniture;
- Type: Painting
- Rights: https://toledomuseum.org/collection/image-resources
- External Link: Toledo Museum of Art
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Art Genre: Portrait
- Depicted Person: Victoria Dubourg
- Fun Fact: The apparent slice-of-life reality of this portrait belies the great lengths to which Edgar Degas went in his search for the painting's compositional resolution. The woman depicted was an acquaintance of Degas', Victoria Dubourg (1840-1926). A painter herself, she met the artist Henri Fantin-Latour (see 1951.363) while they were both sketching in the Musee du Louvre, Paris. The couple became engaged in 1869, around the time Degas painted Dubourg's portrait, and they eventually married in 1878. Dubourg was known to be an intelligent woman who moved in a circle of artists and writers. Her still lifes, which derived influence from those of Fantin-Latour, earned her a modest reputation as an artist. Asymmetrically placed within the image, Dubourg is depicted leaning forward on a chair, her hands folded in her lap. An empty chair, possibly an allusion to her fellow artist and husband-to-be, appears at left, and at right is a mantelpiece on which rests a glass vase of lilacs, no doubt a reference to her chosen subject matter as a painter. An informality pervades the scene, but it is a studied one. A sketchbook sheet and three other known drawings bear witness to Degas' effort to work out how he wanted specific details, as well as the overall portrait, to look. Moreover, Degas' revisions are discernible on the canvas itself—on the wall above Dubourg's head it is possible to make out two framed paintings that were intentionally removed by reworking the paint surface. Over the course of his career representations of the racetrack, the ballet theater (see 1928.198), and the boudoir occupied Degas' attention more than did portraiture. Yet his paintings of family and friends—Degas rarely made portraits on commission—are powerfully designed and dramatically poignant in their willful simplicity.
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