Artwork Page for Dancers

Details / Information for Dancers

Dancers

c. 1896
(French, 1834–1917)
Sheet: 55.7 x 41.4 cm (21 15/16 x 16 5/16 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Lemoisne 1249
Location: not on view
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Download, Print and Share

Did You Know?

Degas joined six separate irregularly shaped sheets of paper to make this work, and their connections are faintly visible on its surface.

Description

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.
A pastel drawing with bright, blended colors of three dancers. They all wear identical yellow dresses and are standing and stretching together.

Dancers

c. 1896

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
France, 19th century

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

    CMA Store

    Nineteenth-Century French Drawings at the Cleveland Museum of Art

    By Britany Salsbury, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, The Cle...
    Nineteenth-Century French Drawings at the Cleveland Museum of Art

    Magnet Set - Edgar Degas

    Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917) Dancers c. 1896 Before the Race c. 188...
    Magnet Set - Edgar Degas

    Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art

    Forward by David Franklin Introduction by C. Griffith Mann with contri...
    Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art

    Art: The Definitive Visual History

    by Andrew Graham Dixon Discover more than 2,500 of the world’s most in...
    Art: The Definitive Visual History

    Contact us

    The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

    To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

    All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.