Dancer Holding Her Right Foot in Her Right Hand 1895 - 1920

This is Edgar Degas’s "Dancer Holding Her Right Foot in Her Right Hand" residing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s bronze. It’s a process, right? All art is. Look at the way the light catches the surface, how Degas built up the form with these almost frantic, energetic marks. It's like he's wrestling with the material, trying to capture the dancer's fleeting gesture. Those marks aren't just descriptive; they're expressive, they tell us something about the artist's own struggle and the dancer's own effort. The texture is palpable, inviting you to run your fingers over the surface. The base is particularly interesting, a kind of rough, unresolved form that contrasts with the smoother, more defined figure. It reminds me of Rodin, another artist who was fascinated by movement and the human form. But Degas has his own thing going on, a kind of nervous energy. Ultimately, art is an ongoing dialogue, a conversation across time and space.