Dancers in Pink 1 by Degas

This admirable pastel on cardboard, created by the famous Impressionist painter Degas Edgar, is entitled “Dancers in Pink 1” and fits perfectly and fully into the innovative research of the Realist and Impressionist movements. The artist captures with great sensitivity a suspended moment, immortalizing two young ballerines practicing outdoors in a beautiful, magnificent and bucolic setting that transcends the traditional dance scene space to explore natural light in a completely new way.

The two dancers, observed from behind in a delicate posture, stand on a grayish sandy path beneath the protective canopy of a large brown tree whose sinuous and dark branches stretch gracefully to the right. They both wear voluminous tutus of a very soft pastel pink, whose vaporeux veils catch subtle and bright touches of white and bluish light. Their long brown hair is tied in thin braids falling down the middle of their backs. Their raised arms in a graceful and elegant arabesque create a very harmonious circular movement, while the background reveals a vast landscape of green hills fading under a beautiful pale, cottony blue sky.

Through an exceptional and masterly mastery of pastel, the artist models the delicate volumes of the flesh and the airy lightness of the tutus. His dynamic hatching and bold chromatic overlays give this work a unique luminous vibration, testifying to his innate ability to capture movement and fleeting grace.