Edgar Degas - Harlequin Dance Notebook

Harlequin Dance (Arlequin danse), made around 1890 in pastel on paper mounted on cardboard by French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas. A dancer in the patterned costume of Harlequin performs on stage while other ballerinas appear behind, linking ballet with the theatrical tradition of the commedia dell'arte. During the 1880s Degas repeatedly explored Harlequin figures and related ballet subjects, including works inspired by Les Jumeaux de Bergame. Rather than narrating a complete theatrical story here, he isolates movement and costume within a cropped stage view. Rapid pastel marks make costume, dancers and scenery read as interlocking patches of colour.