Dancers, Pink and Green

Dancers, Pink and Green is an oil on canvas painting created by Edgar Degas between approximately 1885 and 1895. This work belongs to a significant series in which Degas explored the lives and training of the professional ballerinas and students of the Paris Opéra. It exemplifies the artist’s deep commitment to documenting the modern urban woman, capturing the subjects backstage, stretching, or during rehearsal, often focusing on moments of unguarded preparation rather than formal performance. This painting currently resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The composition features four dancers positioned dynamically, emphasizing movement and the candid nature of the captured moment. Degas often employed oil paint in thin, layered strokes, sometimes giving the surface a delicate, almost pastel-like quality, reflecting the lasting influence of his graphic work. The interplay of the titular pink of the women’s tutus and the vibrant green and yellow wash of the background creates a visually striking color contrast. The loose, impressionistic brushwork, characteristic of Degas’s later period, focuses less on sharp academic line and more on conveying light, atmosphere, and the texture of the fabric.

Though associated with the Impressionist movement, Degas maintained a commitment to drawing and composition, distinguishing his approach from his contemporaries. This painting, along with hundreds of similar works depicting women and the culture of ballet, cemented Degas’s reputation as the foremost chronicler of this specific Parisian world. Due to the historical nature of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's holdings, images like Dancers, Pink and Green are frequently made available for public domain use. This accessibility ensures that high-quality prints and scholarly reproductions of this iconic oil painting continue to be widely circulated today.