Dancer with a Fan
Edgar Degas·1890
Historical Context
Dancer with a Fan (1890), at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, shows one of Degas's recurring figures — the dancer who carries a large fan, either as a prop or as a personal accessory for the warmth of the wings. The fan was a fashionable feminine accessory in late nineteenth-century Paris, and Degas introduces it into the backstage world as a marker of the dancer's off-stage femininity. The juxtaposition of the formal theatrical costume and the casual possession of the fan characterises the backstage ambiguity — between performer and private person — that he found endlessly generative.
Technical Analysis
The fan creates a large flat plane within the composition that Degas uses as a surface for rich colour, contrasting with the lighter treatment of the dancer's costume. His handling of the fan's decorative surface demonstrates his sustained engagement with the aesthetic possibilities of flat, patterned areas within his otherwise space-conscious compositions.
