Seated Dancer 1873 - 1874

Edgar Degas made this drawing of a seated dancer with charcoal and pastel on pink paper. Degas was a 19th-century French artist known for his paintings and drawings of dancers, and he was fascinated by their movements and the behind-the-scenes world of the ballet. This drawing shows a dancer in a moment of rest, perhaps backstage or during a rehearsal. There is an intersectional reading to be done here: while ballet is celebrated as high art, it often relied on young women from working-class backgrounds, who faced grueling training and economic precarity. The ballet was a world of contradictions, a space where grace and beauty were juxtaposed with the harsh realities of class and gender. Degas captures a sense of intimacy here, inviting us to contemplate the human aspect of these performers. It is a look at the personal dimensions of the dancer, beyond the stage.