Degas - Blue Dancers

Edgar Degas, painter, engraver, sculptor and photographer. Born into a cultured bourgeois environment, he developed a passion for horse racing at an early age, then for dance, opera, café-concerts and everyday life. Dance was a subject that would mark Degas' career. He admired these dancers who shone on stage. Degas went there to represent the smallest details as best he could, which is why his paintings were full of life. In addition to the fantasy that this environment offered him, he saw a field of study that conformed to his conception of painting: movement, overall composition, rhythm. He was interested in everything: the exercise sessions, the rehearsals, the backstage atmosphere and the shows. From the 1890s onwards, the artist focused on the figure of the dancer herself, without worrying about inserting her into a recognizable space.

Here, in "Danseuses bleues" (1897) it is about dancers in the wings, without any details that allow us to identify the ballets. In this pastel study, he deepens his research on their movements, favoring places where, like rehearsal rooms and dressing rooms, he can observe their daily life.