Shop art print and framed art Danseuse saluant by Edgar Degas

Danseuse au bouquet, saluant sur la scène is a gouache pastel on paper by the French painter Edgar Degas, painted around 1877 and now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The subject depicted by Degas is the dancer waving to the applauding audience at the end of the number, holding a multicoloured bouquet of flowers. The dynamic visual solution proposed renders an almost photographic image, which did not fail to strike observers of the painting, who were also struck by the violence with which the light projected onto the stage struck the complexion of the girls, rendered in flat areas of white pastel. The chromatic qualities of the pastel, set in light, transparent tones, are remarkable. This work is particularly poignant, as Degas reveals with disenchanted realism the difficult living conditions that tormented the aspiring ballerinas. Many girls from very modest backgrounds, in fact, saw ballet as a chance for redemption and advancement. These little rats of the Opéra, however, were often subjected to the covetousness of subscribers to the theatre, which thus ceased to be a place dedicated to the enjoyment of shows and took on the sinister connotations of a "market for young girls", to use Hippolyte Taine's biting commentary. So the graceful, light pose of the dancer in the foreground begins to reveal a great deal of tension, due to the wear and tear of years of training. By the same token, we soon realise that her pale complexion does not at all correspond to a popular physical [...]

 

This artwork is a drawing from the modern period. It belongs to the impressionism style.

 

« Danseuse saluant » is kept at Musée d'Orsay (conservé au Musée du Louvre), Paris, France.

 

Find the full description of Danseuse saluant by Edgar Degas on Wikipedia.