“Four dancers” is one of the paintings Degas painted with oil, but already with a sense of the “aftertaste” of pastel painting.
Smooth gestures, air movements of ballerinas – for all this the artist could watch for hours, then, having come to the workshop, transferred to the canvas the moments that had already remained in eternity, and amaze with their accuracy in the transfer of character, mental state, and conformity of reality.
In this picture, Degas not only once again professionally “photographed the sensation,” but also worked on the effect of artificial lighting and, mixing the multicolored rays from the spotlights, transferred them to the figures and objects depicted on the canvas.
For the artist, this work occupied a special status, he considered it one of the most successful, and did not want to part with it.
