In Edgar Degas’s Trois danseuses, 1880, three ballerinas stand away from us with their backs turned, seemingly unaware of the artist’s and viewer’s gazes. Using pastel and charcoal to masterfully highlight the effects of stage lights and shadows, the present work emphasizes the artist’s fascination with the simplest moments, and movements, of everyday life, and his preoccupation with the human body.
“People call me the painter of dancing girls. It has never occurred to them that my chief interest in dancers lies in rendering movement and painting pretty clothes.”
—Edgar DegasFirst exploring the dancer motif with Portrait of Mlle Fiocre in the Ballet “La Source” (Portrait de Mlle...E[ugénie] F[iocre]: à propos du ballet “La Source”), Brooklyn Museum, 1867-1868, Degas was drawn to the graceful and ethereal movements of ballerinas. With the opening of the Palais Garnier (the Paris Opera House) in 1861, Degas was able to more closely study the hidden world of ballet, focusing primarily on off-stage moments. This is highlighted in Trois danseuses, in which Degas captures the moment just before the ballerinas perform. The dancers’ poses are natural, not staged, allowing for an organic exploration into the unexpected angles and postures of the human form. Depicting the dancer motif more than 1,500 times throughout his practice in various mediums, the present work provides the viewer with a glance into intimate moments that are so characteristic of the artist’s practice.
Edgar Degas, Portrait of Mlle Fiocre in the Ballet “La Source” (Portrait de Mlle...E[ugénie] F[iocre]: à propos du ballet “La Source”), circa 1867-1868, Brooklyn Museum, New York. Image: © Brooklyn Museum / Gift of James H. Post, A. Augustus Healy, and John T. Underwood / Bridgeman Images Though one of the leading organizers of the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, Degas differed from his contemporaries, choosing to paint and draw in the studio rather than adopting the en plein air techniques of the time. He favored the artificial lighting of theaters and cafés to study his figures, rather than outdoor natural light. This preference is evident in the present work, which features the stark white pigment of pastel—adopted as his medium of choice in the 1880s—to represent fluorescent stage lights. The three dancers’ bodies are cloaked in their glow, demonstrating the interplays of light and shadow which the artist has become famous for. Similarly, Degas’ rejection of the techniques of the time reflects a deep obsession with the human form and its movements, rather than the fleeting qualities of sunlight and landscape. By isolating his figures into smaller groups or focusing on individuals, Degas was able to more closely observe his subjects in everyday environments, illustrating a more modern view of Parisian life as compared to the traditional portrait tradition which preceded him. The artist’s focus on these unposed moments in everyday life is reflective of his art historical legacy, cementing him as a pioneer of portraiture in contemporary art today.
來源
巴黎Eugène Blot收藏
巴黎，Hôtel Drouot，1900 年 5 月 10 日，拍品編號 187
巴黎Jacques Doucet收藏（購自上述拍賣）
巴黎，Hôtel Drouot，1917 年 12 月 28 日，拍品編號 77
巴黎Paul Rosenberg收藏（購自上述拍賣）
巴黎A.P. Rosenberg & Co., Inc.收藏
美國私人收藏（1958 年購）
紐約，佳士得，1990 年 11 月 15 日，拍品編號 111
現藏者購自上述拍賣過往展覽
Los Angeles, County Museum, Edgar Hilarie Germain Degas, March 1958, no. 38, p. 46 (illustrated)
Omaha, Joslyn Art Museum; Williamstown, Massachusetts, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; The Baltimore Museum of Art, Degas and the Little Dancer, February 7, 1998–January 3, 1999, no. 32, pp. 141, 174 (illustrated, p. 141; titled Study of Three Dancers)文學
Paul Lafond, Degas, vol. II, Paris, 1919, no. 36 (illustrated)
Henri Rivière, Les Dessins de Degas, Paris, 1924, no. 9, pp. 4, 95 (illustrated, p. 95)
Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, vol. II, Paris, 1946, no. 579, pp. 326–327 (illustrated, p. 327)
Lillian Browse, Degas Dancers, London, 1949, pl. 93, pp. 175, 369 (illustrated, p. 175)
Jaromír Pečírka, Edgar Degas: pastels, lavis, gouaches, esquisses, Prague, 1963, no. 52, n.p. (illustrated, dated 1885-88)
Degas: The Dancers, exh. cat., The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1984, fig. 3.5, p. 77 (illustrated, dated circa 1878-1880)
紐約私人收藏
Ο◆155
《三個舞者》
款識：Degas（右下方）vue de dessus（右上方）
粉彩 炭筆 淺黃色編織紙本
圖像：17 1/4 x 23 英吋 (43.8 x 58.4 公分)
紙本：18 1/2 x 24 1/4 英吋 (47 x 61.6 公分)
1880年作
估價
$250,000 - 350,000
成交價$279,400
Annie Dolan
日間拍賣（上午部分）拍賣主管暨專家
+1 212 940 1288
adolan@phillips.com
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紐約拍賣 2023年11月15日
126
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137
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145
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