edgar degas

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Edgar Degas’, The Ballerina (oil on canvas) was produced in 1876 is now in the San Diego Museum of Art here in Balboa Park. This painting depicts Degas’ famous motif of ballerinas caught in moment as they practice their moves. There stands a lone ballerina in the center stage of the painting, completely dominating the canvas.
Degas uses dull colors, mostly brown beige and melancholy blue for her tutu, instead of the light pink he uses in his other portraits of the ballerinas. Her body is very much gravitated, depicted almost like a tree trunk. We can see his use of earthly colors in this painting, as it is dominated by different hues of blues and earthly browns. His use of light and shadow is prevalent in here, as the canvas seems like it is divided in two, through his use of shadow. We can see that this particular ballerina is the heroine in his painting, as she solely stands alone, exhibiting her grandeur presence. Her figure seems heavy and not ethereal, as Degas presents his other ballerinas. There is something unique about her. We can’t make out her face, or understand her facial expression; we are left only with her body language to predict what she might be conveying. I can’t tell whether her faceless face suggests a generic idea of all ballerinas or he chose not to paint her face due to his failing eyesight. The fact that she doesn’t have a facial expression leaves her without an identity.
As with his every other painting, this one captures a moment, freezing it permanently in time. He depicts moments that could not have lasted for more than few mere seconds and paints them in particular manner that immortalizes them. This particular ballerina is not performing, she seems to be practicing in the dance room; however, he d...

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..., the broader feel of the scene. He wants us to take in the entirety of the painting but have a moment to catch the individual scenes within it, like the couple dancing, the man in the corner rolling his cigar, or the women in the front talking to the man. We do get places where our eyes can rest, but in general your eye takes in the swirl of modern life and pleasure.
Degas’ passion for depicting ballerinas as they were performing perfectly captures the tone of Impressionism. The impressionist painters were enchanted by modern life and capturing the movement of life in Paris. Both Degas’ Ballerinas and Renoir’s Moulin de la Galette captures the essential qualities of Impressionism. Because Degas’ Ballerinas reflect much of the Impressionist movement, we can use the work be compare to other works of the same time and location, such as the one of Renoir.

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