The Entrance of the Masked Dancers 1882

Edgar Degas made The Entrance of the Masked Dancers with pastel on paper, using layer upon layer of dry pigment. Pastel is a powdery medium, demanding a light touch. Look closely, and you can see how Degas built up the figures and the setting from hatched strokes, massing and blending the color. The dancers’ tutus are rendered as hazy clouds of pigment, evoking their light, airy quality. Notice how Degas leaves parts of the paper bare, allowing its warm tone to show through and unify the composition. He was interested in capturing fleeting moments, and pastel allowed him to work quickly and spontaneously. The ephemeral quality of pastel also seems fitting for the subject matter: a glimpse behind the scenes at the ballet, where illusion and artifice reign supreme. Yet, there is a sense of the hard work of the dancers, their bodies subjected to the demands of their art. Materials and making are everything here, challenging the divide between the rarefied world of fine art, and the labor it obscures.