Degas ballerina sculpture original
Degas ballerinas!
Edgar Degas and His Most Beautiful Ballerinas
Edgar Degas was one of the founding artists of Impressionism, however, he didn’t like the term and preferred to call it “Realist” or “Independent”.
Degas ballerina sketch
Ballet dancers were one of his main subjects. “People call me the painter of dancing girls,” Degas once told Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard. “It has never occurred to them that my chief interest in dancers lies in rendering movement and painting pretty clothes.” Here are eight of the most beautiful Degas ballerinas that he is so famous for.
1.
The Dancing Class
This is the first of Degas‘ ballerinas’ scenes. The dancer in the center is Joséphine Gaujelin, who later became an actress at the Gymnase, a theater known for its comedies and popular dramas.
Gaujelin posed in a dance costume for a number of drawings when Degas worked on his first ballet pictures.
Degas ballerina pastelWhy ballet subjects? Among other reasons, they were easier to sell, and Degas needed money.