The Star (Dancer on Stage) 1878

Edgar Degas created "The Star" with pastel on paper in France. Here, Degas paints a dancer on stage beneath the harsh glare of the footlights, and though her movement appears graceful, the eye is drawn to the shadowy figures lurking in the background. In nineteenth-century Paris, the ballet was closely tied to the opera. And while the stage was a place for aspiring dancers, the opera house was also a place for wealthy gentlemen to meet young women. Degas's many paintings of dancers, like this one, can be read as critiques of the opera's role in perpetuating social inequality. Degas does not fully celebrate the dancer's apparent beauty and grace. Understanding the artwork requires knowledge of the social structures of nineteenth-century Paris. Accessing archives, newspapers, and literature of the time helps us to interpret and contextualize the art that was created. It serves as a reminder that art is never made in a vacuum, and its meaning is always shaped by the society in which it is produced and viewed.