Dancer in Ukrainian Dress
1899
Medium
Pastel over charcoal on tracing paper
Dimensions
24 3/8 x 18 in. (61.9 x 45.7 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number
29.100.556
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Dancer in Ukrainian Dress (1899) by Edgar Degas invites visitors into the artist's lifelong fascination with dance. Created late in Degas's career, this pastel over charcoal on tracing paper—measuring 24 3/8 x 18 inches—captures a solitary female figure poised in traditional Ukrainian attire. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum Art's European Paintings Department as part of the prestigious H. O. Havemeyer Collection (bequest of 1929), it exemplifiesegas's shift toward intimate, off-stage moments of performers. Degas, a key figure in Impressionism though often aligned with Realism, revolutioni...
About the Artist
Edgar Degas · 1834–1917
Edgar Degas (1834-1917) stands as one of the most innovative artists of the nineteenth century, whose distinctive vision transformed how modern life could be depicted on canvas. Born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas in Paris to a wealthy banking family—his father French, his mother a Louisiana Creole from New Orleans—Degas received a classical education before abandoning law studies in 1855 to pursue ...