Harlequin

Edgar Degas

Pastel on cream laid paper, pieced at bottom and right and laid down on board

Art Institute of Chicago

Harlequin is a pastel on cream laid paper executed by Edgar Degas in 1885, depicting a scene from the ballet-harlequinade Les Jumeaux de Bergame (The Twins of Bergamo), a Commedia dell'Arte-type farce about two Harlequin brothers who arrive in Paris and fall in love with the same woman. The composition shows Harlequin Senior from behind, his diamond-patterned tunic standing out against a luminous blue-green stage set, as he beats a cloaked rival who is courting his beloved — with ballerinas glimpsed among the foliage in the background. Degas, a central figure of French Impressionism who was particularly celebrated for his mastery of pastel and his sustained engagement with theater and dance, attended rehearsals and a trial run of the ballet in 1885, well before its premiere at the Paris Opéra in early 1886. The work is part of a series of seven related pastels Degas made between 1884 and 1886, and is now held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.