First Arabesque Penchée 1887 - 1920

This is Edgar Degas’ bronze sculpture of a dancer, "First Arabesque Penchée", which lives at the Met. The dark bronze is roughly textured, catching light. It shows how artmaking is really a conversation with the material itself, bronze in this case, a solid and unyielding material, which here is made to convey the most graceful, weightless and ethereal of human forms. Look at the way the light plays across the surface, particularly on the dancer’s outstretched leg. It's a study of balance and tension. The raised leg, so straight and strong, against the torso, which seems to swoop forward with incredible momentum. Degas was really interested in movement. You might also like Umberto Boccioni, an Italian Futurist, he shares a similar obsession with bodies in motion. Both artists remind us that art is an ongoing process of experimentation. It's not about fixed meanings, but endless possibilities.