A sale catalogue in 1898 described the dancer pictured in Edgar Degas’ pastel, The Singer in Green:

“Skinny and with the graceful moves of a little monkey, she has just sung her ribald verses and, with a gesture that conceals an entreaty behind her smile, is inviting applause.”

With her small eyes, high cheeks, and low brow, the model recalls Marie von Goethem, the working-class girl who posed for Degas’s sculpture The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer. The singer’s dress, rendered in vivid yellow, turquoise, and orange, reflects the artist’s experimentation with saturated hues and color contrasts in the mid-1880s.  Quote from TheMet

Click for enlarged detail:

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet, (detail).

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884), Pastel on light blue laid paper,23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm), Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960, Source: TheMet

Details

• The Singer in Green (c.1884)
• Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
• Date: ca.1884
• Medium: Pastel on light blue laid paper
• Dimensions: 23 3/4 x 18 1/4 in. (60.3 x 46.4 cm)
• Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960
• On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 816

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