Two Dancers size1 by Degas

The impressionist masterpiece titled “Deux danseuses” was created by the iconic painter Degas Edgar, who explores here with great sensitivity the intimacy and labor of the Opera backstage. This major work highlights the natural and non-idealized postures of ballerinas during their moments of exercise and fatigue. The artist breaks with the tradition of academic poses to freeze the raw truth of the human body in motion.

On the grey slats of a wooden floor drawn in an oblique perspective, two ballerinas in vaporous white tutus practice. On the left, a brunette dancer bends completely forward, her head lowered between her legs, her arms reaching towards her ankles in an intense stretching effort. On the right, her red-haired companion, seated on a brown wooden bench, stretches her left leg out to the side, her foot clad in a pink satin slipper delicately pointing at the floor. Their voluminous tutus form clouds of white gauze and pale blue tulle that catch the diffuse light of the room. The uniform ocher-yellow background highlights the graphic outline of their bodies in full physical effort.

Degas Edgar shows admirable craftsmanship in the pastel and paint technique, sculpting the shapes with vibrant strokes. His rigorous anatomical observation faithfully restores the tension of the muscles and the flexibility of the limbs. The bold framing and the high-angle perspective give this work an incomparable modernity and naturalism.