Edgar Degas

MoMA, NY

NOW CLOSED

Forest in the Mountains (Forêt dans la montagne) (c.1890), Edgar Degas. Image courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Louise Reinhardt Smith Bequest.

A Strange New Beauty

Edgar Degas is best known as a painter and chronicler of the ballet, yet his work as a printmaker reveals the true extent of his restless experimentation. In the mid-1870s, Degas was introduced to the monotype process—drawing in ink on a metal plate that was then run through a press, typically resulting in a single print. The exhibition includes approximately 120 rarely seen monotypes—along with some 50 related paintings, drawings, pastels, sketchbooks, and prints—that show Degas at his most modern, capturing the spirit of urban life; depicting the body in new and daring ways; liberating mark-making from tradition; and boldly engaging the possibilities of abstraction. Read more.

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Frieze of Dancers (Danseuses attachant leurs sandales) (c.1895), Edgar Degas. Image courtesy of The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Landscape with Rocks (Paysage avec rochers) (1892), Edgar Degas. Image courtesy of High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Purchase with High Museum of Art Enhancement Fund.

Bedtime (Le Coucher) (c.1880-85), Edgar Degas. Image courtesy of Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design / The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.

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