Three Dancers in Yellow Skirts 1904

Curator: Standing before us is Edgar Degas’ pastel and watercolor work, "Three Dancers in Yellow Skirts," dating from around 1904. It currently resides in a private collection. What strikes you initially about it? Editor: Well, the raw energy really hits me. The color palette is daring: the almost clashing yellows and blues. It gives the impression of frenetic backstage movement. A very embodied performance caught between rehearsals, but still somewhat frozen in time. Curator: Indeed. And beyond that energy, the socio-political elements here are really something to explore. The late 19th and early 20th century ballet was not merely an artistic pastime, but also a very gendered performance. These women were objects of intense scrutiny, negotiating visibility and control. Their labor often went unseen while their images were disseminated and commodified. Degas here offers an interesting case study: an intimate, albeit possibly romanticized view. Editor: Absolutely. And the composition, so seemingly candid, isn't it? The figures are cut off, cropped in a way that suggests a fleeting moment caught by chance, however very specifically rendered in coloured pencil, charcoal and watercolor.. We, as the audience, become complicit voyeurs peeking backstage into the intimate corners of a heavily guarded theater and its feminine subjects. Curator: It begs the question of the male gaze and representation. These dancers are in a constant state of negotiation with power. We have to examine how images, even those created with evident admiration of a subject’s performance, might reinforce societal expectations. Ballet in that period was supported by elite patronage; a system inherently embedded within complex economic and social hierarchies. Editor: That's true. Degas isn't simply depicting dancers; he's presenting the spectacle of labor. While the Impressionists generally sought to portray modern life, we have to look at which aspects of this life were highlighted and what voices were marginalized within that portrait. How the dancer herself finds individual identity or expression amid constant institutionalisation. Curator: Indeed. So it encourages us to investigate the political economy of art. Who gets seen and how. As well as what historical baggage each artwork still carries today. Editor: It's fascinating to view how those historical tensions remain alive in the lines and colors, and encourage us to constantly question its social significance. I now find myself compelled to dive into this world’s archives and look at the stories of individual ballerinas of that time.