The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer by Edgar Degas (Interpretation and Analysis)

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The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer
Source: National Gallery of Art
Most people think of Edgar Degas as the painter of ballerinas. Degas rose to prominence as an artist in the mid-nineteenth century. While he originally studied to be a history painter, Degas became one of the leading painters of the Impressionist movement, and he quickly began to paint scenes of contemporary life.

The ballerinas were some of his earliest and most common subjects. He even painted rehearsals and backstage scenes at the ballet. While he is most famous for these paintings, Degas also created several sculptures over the course of his career. However, The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer is one of his only surviving sculptures.

As the title suggests, the sculpture depicts a young girl in the costume of a ballerina. Many ballerinas came from poor, working class backgrounds. As such, these young girls lived difficult lives and were subject to many threats. The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer reflects this sad reality. Yet, at the same time it is a dignified and serious portrait. The dancer holds her head high, with a solemn expression. It is a moving and beautiful piece of art.

As the National Gallery of Art notes, “In the context of the evolution of sculpture, the Little Dancer is a groundbreaking work of art...Degas represented a working–class subject, though not an everyday one, with both realism and compassion, but without moralizing. In so doing, he captured with brilliant simplicity the difficult tension between art and life.”

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