Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas

In its monumentality it is unique among all his decorations celebrating the arabesques and occupational anatomy of ballet dancers. This masterpiece of color contrast and harmony is also a daring record of instantaneous change at a split second of observation. Degas miraculously avoided the danger to art of arrested motion and actually transformed the incident of swiftly seen shapes in time into a thrilling vision of dynamic forms in space. As a draftsman Degas is one of the greatest masters of line as an instrument of expressive revelation.
Duncan Phillips, 1956

 

Degas criticized artists of the previous generation for depicting the female figure as if an audience was present. In contrast, “my women,” he said, “are simple, honest people, who have no other thought than their physical activity.”