Three Dancers, Green Blouses 1900

Edgar Degas, a 19th-century French artist, created "Three Dancers, Green Blouses" using pastel. Degas was from a wealthy background, which gave him the privilege of choosing his subject matter. He was fascinated by the ballet but also interested in the female body. While celebrated for capturing dancers, his work often reflects the male gaze prevalent in his time. Degas said, "It is essential to do the same subject over again, ten times, a hundred times." In this piece, we see the dancers not in performance, but in a moment of backstage vulnerability. The bodies of the dancers seem to be observed in the liminal space between glamour and exhaustion. The pastel medium allows Degas to create a sense of immediacy, as if we're catching a glimpse of a private moment. In its depiction of these women, the artwork serves as a reminder of the power dynamics inherent in the act of looking and who gets to look, and how.