The often associated image of ballet dancers with Edgar Degas paintings is taking a backseat at the Musee d’Orsay. The Paris museum’s latest exhibit Degas and the Nude focuses solely on his work around the subject of female nudes. The exhibit marks the first major monographic exhibition in Paris devoted to Degas since the 1988 retrospective at the Grand Palais.
The exhibit provides a satisfying overview of Degas’ career. Spanning over 50 years of his work, Degas and the Nude begins with the artist’s technical, scholarly approach to the body in his early years to his more interpretive and impressionistic works as his art practice progressed. The show also captures the diversity of Degas with works in the medium of painting, sculpture, drawing, printing and pastel.
Degas and the Nude was curated from the Musée d’Orsay’s permanent collection as well as loans from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute and the New York Metropolitan Museum. The exhibit will run until July 1, 2012.
Edgar Degas, Woman drying her neck, after her bath, 1898, Pastel on cardboard, Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Tags: Degas, museum exhibits
