Two Dancers 1897

Edgar Degas rendered 'Two Dancers' using dry pastel, a medium comprised of pure pigment pressed into stick form, around the turn of the 20th century. The pastel medium lends itself to layering and blending, evident in the soft contours of the dancers' figures. Degas would have applied the pastel sticks directly to the paper, building up layers of color and texture through hatching and stumping. He favored this medium for its immediacy and portability, allowing him to capture fleeting moments with great sensitivity. The marks left on the paper give the drawing a raw energy and a sense of arrested motion, as though he captured the dancers in a moment stolen from their demanding rehearsals. One can also imagine the way the dancers' own labor, in developing their skill through endless repetition, left its own mark on them. Ultimately, pastels are an ideal medium to capture the everyday, in-between moments that were of great interest to Degas. They remind us that the act of making is inseparable from the meaning of art.