*Art+Analysis*



//Dancers in Pink// Edgar Degas

__Art Response__

So there I was at the Norton Simon Museum of Art, walking with my mother. I had lost all hope of finding a painting there suitable enough for my ILP. I had walked straight past a brightly colored painting of a garden by Claude Monet. My eyes grazed over a statue positioned in the center of the room of a young ballerina with a worn tutu. I looked around and sighed, and turned into the next hall. Right when I walked in, a painting caught my eye— it was //Dancers in Pink// by Edgar Degas.  Intrigued, I walked over to the painting.  “Hey mom, look at this,” I said. The click of heels grew louder as my mother approached the delicately-framed piece of artwork.  “Two ballet dancers. Like the rest of this guy's paintings,” my mother replied. “It looks nice though.”  “It's Degas,” I corrected. I cocked my head and thought. This painting was so different from the paintings of brightly colored dancers that surrounded it. And yet, something about this painting //worked// . The more I looked at it, the clearer the connection became. “This one,” I said. “This is the one!”  “But. . . it doesn't even have anything to do with stand-up comedy! It's not even remotely funny!” my mother said, a bemused expression on her face.  I quietly smiled and proceeded to take the picture. //Dancers in Pink// is a seemingly simple piece of art by Edgar Degas. It was created using pastels on paper, and was completed sometime between 1885 and 1886. Degas depicted two young ballet dancers practicing their dance routine, possibly backstage in front of a backdrop or outside. The piece is now on display at the Norton Simon Museum of Art in Pasedena, and is approximately 2.5 feet tall and 1.2 feet wide. The colors Degas used seem to blend well together: the soft pinks, the warm browns and reds, and the almost iridescent greens. The soft lighting in the piece creates an ethereal dream-like appearance, as if emphasizing the graceful look of the two girls. Close up, the piece seems very messy, but if looked at from far away, the scratchy trunk of the tree looks realistic, the blotched sky appears to have clouds, and the tutus of the girls' costumes look ruffled and frilly. The edges in the painting vary; the tree and the girls' arms and legs are all finely outlined, in contrast to the blurred edges of the tutu and the border between the sky and ground. In some areas, it is evident that the artist used quick, strong, short stokes to create the effect of having grooves or texture. Degas also evenly blended different shades of colors to create the illusion of perspective in the hill and sky.  Most of Degas' paintings were of dancers; he simply liked to paint them. They were graceful and fluid in their movements, and Degas tried (and successfully accomplished) to capture those movements in different artistic mediums. //Dancers in Pink// is another Impressionist painting of “Degas' dancers,” and is a little general in appearance. Since there are many paintings similar to this piece (there is, in fact, another painting of the same name), there isn't a lot of information on it that differentiates it from the others. Therefore, I don't think there really is a theme or message behind what you see on paper. However, looking at this pastel-painting, you can feel the mood the softness of the pastel is creating; the simple beauty of it makes me appreciate the simple things in life more. If <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//Dancers in Pink// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">had been created using thick paint and vibrant colors, it would have a completely different mood. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> Looking at this painting, one would wonder how ballet connects to stand-up comedy. For me, the connection was almost instantaneous when I laid my eyes on it. In an earlier paragraph, I had stated that the two girls seemed to be practicing their dance routine. Stand-up comedians, like ballet dancers, must practice their routine over and over until they get it right. The two girls are in fourth position, with the left arm curved upward and the left foot in front of the other at an angle. They seem to be trying to perfect that part of their routine, and to try and somehow make it better. This also connects to stand-up comedy–– comedians practice their routines in small clubs, to see how the audience would react to what they say before presenting it before much larger crowds. They use that information to figure out how they can improve their material to make it more enjoyable. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> However, the girl on the left seems somewhat disdained and tired. Her right arm is hanging by her side, unlike the right arm of the other girl. To me, it feels like this girl has worked very hard to get to the level of skill she is at. Being a comedian is also very difficult work; it's hard becoming successful as a comedian because you have to appeal to the general audience. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> Overall, <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//Dancers in Pink// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">is a wonderful painting that perfectly exemplifies stand-up comedy in two ways: the fact that both dancers and comedians must practice their routines until it is perfect and the fact that dancing and comedy involves very hard work. The body language of the two dancers show those two aspects, and the soft, graceful look of the painting makes me appreciate the simple things in life. Although there were many paintings of dancers at the Norton Simon Museum, this one caught my attention because it looked different; it wasn't painted with the same vivid colors as <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//Dancers in the Wings// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">, and it seemed a lot plainer next to <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//The Star: Dancer on Point,// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">the painting of a ballerina dancing on clouds. I guess because of that, I was drawn to it. The rather small painting stood out against the white walls of the museum. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//Dancers in Pink// <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">can be seen on display at the Norton Simon Museum of Art.