Ballet Dancers

Edgar Degas

National Gallery of Art

Three pale-skinned ballet dancers wearing orange and dark turquoise costumes stand together on a stage in this square composition, which is painted with gouache and drawn with pastel over a monotype print. The dancers are close together near the center of the drawing, between two scrims representing trees, bushes, and grass on the theater set. A backdrop beyond suggests bushes and a tan-colored mountain under a blue sky. Two ballerinas face away from us. The dancer to the left has long, copper-red hair, and the one to the right has long brown hair. That second dancer leans onto one pointed toe. The third dancer, also with brown hair, is closer to and faces us, but she bends forward to adjust one shoe, and her face is hidden behind the stage setting. All three have peach-colored flowers in their hair, and their costumes have knee-length tutus with alternating layers of orange and turquoise. Swag sleeves lie across the dancers' upper arms from their low-cut bodices, and all three wear pale pink ballet slippers. The scene is drawn and painted with loose, visible strokes of paint and pastel, making many details indistinct. The artist signed the lower left corner, “Degas.”