Ballerina Ulla Poulsen by Gerda Wegener

The world of performance and the stage finds here an expression of absolute delicacy and vibrant lyricism. Through this artwork entitled “Ballerina Ulla Poulsen”, the Danish-born artist Gerda Wegener captures the airy grace of a dancer in a very assertive Art Deco style. This composition celebrates the aesthetics of the ballets and music of her era, staging femininity in its most refined, poetic, and magical form.

A blonde ballerina is seated gracefully in a semi-reclining pose at the center of the canvas. She wears an imposing, voluminous white tulle tutu and a low-cut bodice, her head adorned with a turquoise-blue pearled headdress. Her arms are crossed delicately over her chest, her face showing a sweet and dreamy smile. A powerful beam of white light diagonally crosses the left side of the scene, illuminating the dancer against a background of dark, geometric stage sets. At her feet, on the right, lies a splendid bouquet of lilies and colorful flowers tied with a pink ribbon, while the black scroll of a violin is discreetly silhouetted in the foreground.

Gerda Wegener shows here an admirable and incredible ease in using light to sculpt three-dimensional volumes. Her great pictorial mastery is beautifully revealed in the extreme delicacy of the tutu’s veils and in the subtle, magical glow emanating from the dancer’s headpiece.