Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green)

Edgar Degas

Pastel and gouache on paper

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Known formally as Danseuses basculant (Danseuses vertes), or in English as Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green), this pastel and gouache on paper depicts a group of ballet dancers mid-performance as seen from an elevated side box. One dancer in green is shown in full length executing a swift, complicated turn, while the other figures are cropped at the edges of the composition, and ballerinas in orange costumes are visible in the background awaiting their cue. Degas employed his characteristic technique of off-centre framing and cropping — influenced by photography and Japanese prints — to convey the fleeting, transitory quality of movement through rapid, virtuosic pastel strokes. A leading figure associated with Impressionism, Degas brought unparalleled technical mastery to the pastel medium, elevating it to the status of oil painting and making the world of ballet one of the most iconic subjects in nineteenth-century art.