Your Eyes to the World of Soft Pastel Art
Posts tagged Degas
Edgar Degas, Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green)
Feb 19th
The original of this paining is located in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. This is one of the entries in the Googles Art Project and you can check incredible details on this link.
Degas was fascinated by the world of ballet; hence, it figured prominently in many of his paintings. Here, the group of dancers is depicted in mid-performance, as viewed from an upper side box. Only one of the girls in green is shown full-length, captured as she executes a swift, complicated turn. The other figures are cropped, leaving the viewer to imagine the rest. In the background, a number of ballerinas dressed in orange stand against the landscape scenery, awaiting their turn. Degas’ use of a cropped, off-centred pictorial space was influenced by photography and by Japanese prints. He felt that the unfinished, transitory nature of reality could only be conveyed using a fragmented technique. Here, the fleeting nature of the movements is captured with rapid pastel strokes, applied with immense skill.
Edgar Degas “The Chorus”
Nov 1st
The Chorus, which dates from 1877, is a work in bright pastels portraying a row of male choir singers on stage. The paintings has been stolen at the beginning of 2010, and there is no news about it being retrieved. The Musee d’Orsay had loaned “The Chorus” to a gallery in Marseilles, France for an exhibition on the work of Edgar Degas. Musee d’Orsay in Paris valued it at €800,000, correcting an estimate given by local police that it was worth some €30 million. Therefore if you see it while you visit some of your art collector friends, please let us know 
Barbara Benedetti Newton
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