Young Woman Playing a Mandolin, Study for Portrait of Mlle. Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source" 1866 - 1868

Edgar Degas made this drawing, "Young Woman Playing a Mandolin, Study for Portrait of Mlle. Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source"", on paper using graphite. The drawing presents a figure caught in a moment of quietude, the texture of the paper visible beneath the delicate lines creating a sense of immediacy. Degas uses the simplicity of line to define form, yet the figure remains an open structure inviting interpretation. Degas's choice to focus on the dancer outside of performance destabilizes traditional expectations. Instead of the spectacle, we are given a study in form and light, a challenge to fixed notions. The visible structure of the drawing, with its erasures and adjustments, challenges the concept of the finished artwork, and proposes a new way of engaging with representation and reality.