About this work
In *The Russian Dancer*, Degas turns away from his famous ethereal ballerinas to celebrate the rambunctious abandon, bright colors, and elaborate folk costumes of a Ukrainian peasant dancer.
The figure is outlined loosely so that she appears in motion, legs elevated mid-stride,
her long hair decorated with ribbons, her traditional folk costume marking her unmistakably as a peasant dancer rather than a classically trained performer.
Simple, bold outlines convey dynamic movement, while the thickly applied pastel creates rich surfaces built up from many colors.
Degas captured this exuberance by applying layers of pure color on paper, artfully combining the immediacy of drawing with the vibrancy of painting. The result is a work that vibrates with physical energy — color and line pulling in every direction at once, refusing to settle into stillness.
The work dates to 1899 and was executed in pastel over charcoal on tracing paper — a material Degas favored precisely because it allowed him to reverse individual figures and combine dancers in different arrangements from sheet to sheet.
At the height of La Belle Époque in the late 1890s, Eastern European dance troupes visited Paris and performed at its famed cabaret clubs: the Folies-Bergère, Moulin Rouge, and the Casino de Paris among them.
Degas probably encountered Ukrainian performers in Paris, given keen French interest in such culture after the establishment of the Dual Alliance between France and Russia in 1894.
Julie Manet visited Degas's studio in July 1899, a rare invitation to see his work in progress — and noted her delight upon seeing the folk dancer pastels, a project Degas himself described as his "orgies of color." The series stands apart within his oeuvre: rawer, louder, and more unguarded than anything the ballet stage had given him.
This is a work that demands a wall with room around it — somewhere the eye can travel the full arc of the figure without interruption. It suits spaces where warmth and movement matter: a study with bold furnishings, a dining room that welcomes energy at the table, or a hallway that you want to stop people in their tracks. The colourfully clad figure contrasts strongly with the dainty and ethereal ballerinas that dominate so much of Degas's output, making this print an ideal choice for the collector who knows Degas well and wants the side of him that is rarely on the poster. It speaks to anyone drawn to folk tradition, to physical joy, and to color wielded with total conviction.
