Edgar Degas, Ballet Dancers

This pigment analysis is based on the work of the scientists at the National Gallery London (1).

1 Bright red hair: pure vermilion.

2 Dark green window: pure viridian.

3 Mauve-grey background on the left side: red ochre mixed with zinc white and larger quantities of viridian.

4 Greenish-grey background, right side: a larger proportion of viridian mixed with less red ochre, painted over a pinkish mixture of zinc white and a trace of red ochre.

5 Pale yellow background or curtain: zinc white mixed with yellow ochre and viridian.
6 Yellow on the window frame: zinc white and viridian mixed with larger proportion yellow ochre.

References

(1) Bomford D, Herring S, Kirby J, Riopelle C, Roy A. Art in the Making: Degas. London: National Gallery Company, 2004, pp. 136-141.

(2) Theodore Reff, The Technical Aspects of Degas’s Art, Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 4 (1971), pp. 141-166, DOI: 10.2307/1512619.

(1) Bomford D, Herring S, Kirby J, Riopelle C, Roy A. Art in the Making: Degas. London: National Gallery Company, 2004, pp. 136-141.

(2) George T. M. Shackelford, Degas – The Dancers, Exhibition Catalog, The National Gallery of Art Washington, 1984. Available as pdf.

(3) Martin Hammer, Francis Bacon: Back to Degas, Rothenstein Lecture 2011, Tate Papers Issue 17.

(4) Theodore Reff, The Technical Aspects of Degas’s Art, Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 4 (1971), pp. 141-166, DOI: 10.2307/1512619.