PUSHKIN MUSEUM, Degas Ballerinas Behind The Scenes Room 21 22

In this museum, you can admire five works by Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, a French painter and sculptor, who was very involved in the Impressionist movement, albeit with a very personal style and technique that diverged slightly from Impressionism.

While the Impressionists painted their works in one sitting, often in the open air, giving more importance to light and color than to drawing, Degas preferred to prepare for his works by making preliminary sketches and mainly painting in his studio. However, he is considered an impressionist artist both because he participated in almost all the exhibitions organized by this movement, and for his use of color.

One of Degas' favorite subjects was undoubtedly his dancers, a theme that is still more popular than any other that he explored. This museum exhibits four canvases that depict dancers. At the time, paintings of young dancers were very fashionable, and were therefore easier to sell.

Although Degas was initially particularly interested in the physical movement of dancing ballerinas, towards the end of his career he chose to portray them not as they danced with elegance and grace, but he captured them in slightly awkward positions....