Three Ballet Dancers, One with Dark Crimson Waist 1899

Edgar Degas captured these Three Ballet Dancers, One with Dark Crimson Waist, with pastel on paper sometime in the late 19th century. During this period, the Paris Opera Ballet was a cultural institution closely tied to the social hierarchy of the time. Ballet dancers, often from working-class backgrounds, were simultaneously admired for their grace and subject to the male gaze. Degas’s works are not simple aesthetic portrayals of dancers but complex negotiations of identity, class, and gender. Here, Degas draws us into an intimate moment, focusing on the physical and psychological demands placed on these young women. One dancer holds her head, perhaps exhausted, another seems lost in concentration, and another places her hands over her chest. The dark crimson waist contrasts with the softness of the tutus, drawing attention to the physicality and labor of their performance. Degas’s ballet dancers capture the ambivalent position of women in Parisian society, reflecting the emotional, social, and physical complexities of their lives.