Edgar Degas - Swaying Dancer / Dancer in Green Tile

Swaying Dancer / Dancer in Green (Danseuse basculant / Danseuse verte), made between 1877 and 1879 in pastel and gouache on paper by French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas. Seen from an elevated side viewpoint, a dancer in green completes a quick turn while other figures are abruptly cropped at the edges and orange-costumed ballerinas wait farther back on the stage. The irregular framing makes the action feel fragmentary, as though the viewer has caught only one section of a larger performance. Degas's off-centre composition reflects his interest in photographic cropping and Japanese prints, both of which offered alternatives to traditional centred staging. Rapid pastel strokes and opaque gouache reinforce the sensation of a movement captured in transition.