Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green)

Painted by Edgar Degas in pastel and gouache between 1877 and 1879, 'The Green Dancer' captures a young ballerina mid-spin on stage in a gauzy green tutu. The footlights turn her arms, face, and skirt into a shower of acid-green flecks that dissolve into the lemon-yellow of the stage floor — Degas's rigorous Impressionist study of colour and motion applied to the world of the dance. The chalky grain of the pastel itself seems to vibrate with her acceleration, making the picture one of the liveliest of all his dance studies.

Exhibition Venue

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Madrid, Spain