Three Studies of a Dancer in Fourth Position
Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
1879/80
- Medium
- Charcoal and pastel with stumping, and touches of brush and black wash, on grayish-tan laid paper with blue fibers, laid down on gray wove paper
- Classification
- Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions
- 48 × 61.6 cm (18 15/16 × 24 5/16 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Adele R. Levy
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Made in preparation for the sculpture Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, this remarkable drawing depicts the model Marie van Goethem from three different perspectives: left profile, right profile, and facing the viewer. Edgar Degas wanted to understand the figure in the round, in two dimensions, before he approached the sculpture in three dimensions.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
