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Dancers

Edgar Degasc. 1896

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

Degas depicted the ballet in more than 1,000 paintings, prints, pastels, and sculptures. He preferred private, offstage moments to glamorous curtain calls or artfully constructed compositions. Here, three dancers stretch together in the wings, unaware of the viewer’s presence. Powdery layers of yellow, orange, and pink pastel create a rough surface characteristic of Degas’s late work in the medium. He invented special techniques that allowed him to build layer upon layer of color with varying degrees of opacity and transparency. This pastel’s rich surface and intense, vibrating palette is the result of such innovative methods.

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  • Title: Dancers
  • Creator: Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
  • Date Created: c. 1896
  • Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 55.7 x 41.4 cm (21 15/16 x 16 5/16 in.)
  • Provenance: Studio of the artist, sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, (Durand-Ruel, Paris, transferred to Durand-Ruel, New York, (Durand-Ruel, New York, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Jeptha H. Wade, Cleveland, OH), Mr. [1857–1926] and Mrs. [1857–1917] Jeptha H. Wade II, Cleveland, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Drawing
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.1043
  • Medium: pastel with charcoal on tracing paper mounted on paper and backed with gray board
  • Inscriptions: inscribed, lower left, in pastel: Degas
  • Fun Fact: Degas joined six separate irregularly shaped sheets of paper to make this work, and their connections are faintly visible on its surface.
  • Department: Drawings
  • Culture: France, 19th century
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
  • Collection: DR - French
  • Accession Number: 1916.1043
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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