Dancer Adjusting Her Slipper

Dancer Adjusting Her Slipper is a foundational drawing created by Edgar Degas in 1873. This exquisite work employs graphite heightened with black and white chalk on pink wove paper, though the paper's original vibrancy has faded over time. Crucially, the drawing is squared for transfer, indicating that Degas intended to use this sketch as the basis for a larger oil painting or a series of Dancer prints, a working methodology common for the artist.

The drawing captures a moment of private preparation rarely seen in contemporary art. Degas was fascinated by the lives of women in modern Parisian life, and his frequent studies of ballet dancers allowed him to explore the human form in motion, particularly the strenuous reality hidden beneath the glamour of the stage. This specific pose shows a dancer in an unidealized, candid moment as she attends to her slipper, contrasting the formal performance often expected of ballet subjects. Degas’s focus on the mundane actions of the women backstage emphasizes his dedication to recording modern, unposed realism.

As a highly finished study, this piece exemplifies Degas's mastery of draftsmanship. The emphasis on line, form, and shadow provided the structural basis for his subsequent explorations in oil and pastel. This work is an important component of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s extensive collection of 19th-century French drawings. Due to the high visibility and importance of Degas’s prolific output, the original artwork is highly prized, and many high-quality prints derived from this influential drawing are widely available today, often falling under the public domain designation.