Lot #58: Small EDGAR DEGAS WOMEN WITH CHRYSANTHEMUMS (1865) 5x7

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), an Impressionist more interested in movement than in color, was born in Paris. Degas is famous for his ballet, theatrical, and race track scenes, and many pictures of women. His horses seem alive; and his studies of women at WOMEN WITH CHRYSANTHEMUMS (1865) Such a magnificent display of flowers would distract us from the woman placed, in typical Degas fashion, to one side of the composition, if the artist had not given such careful attention to her expression, to the position of her hand, and to the pose. No artist before Degas would have let a figure be cut off by the edge of a painting. Indifferent to the flowers, the woman is completely absorbed either in herself or in something that we cannot see outside the canvas. It is this division of interest between the model and the still life that creates the mood of this painting. Pickup category timeslot {A}