Arcadópolis
Dancers Backstage
Edgar Degas, 1876–1883
What you see
Two dancers wait very close to us among the scenery. The one on the left, in a pink tutu with red flowers, rests one hand on a wooden flat and leans forward. The one on the right, cut off by the edge, wears yellow and orange, with butterfly wings on her back and flowers in her hair. A painted backdrop of foliage shows at the top.
The pink and gold of the costumes stand out against the greenish grey of the flat. The strokes are hatched and loose, especially in the tutus, which look like gauze. Notice the black markings on the wings, imitating a butterfly’s, and the signature at upper left.
About Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas is famous for his ballet dancers, whom he painted in classes, rehearsals and backstage more than a thousand times. He liked to capture movements of a single instant, as if they were photographs. Besides oil paint, he often used pastels, sticks of colour that give a soft, velvety look.
More by Edgar Degas
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