When looking at art, most viewers are often ignorant of the hours of work that are poured into the creation of the piece. After all, there are usually no eraser marks on a painting. They see only the finished product laid out before them. This can lead people to think of art as the product of spontaneous generation. Furthermore, this notion can lead other artists to have unrealistic expectations of themselves as well as straitjacket their creativity. Creating art can be difficult when one believes that the process of creation comes easily to everyone else.
Edgar Degas was opposed to the idea of genius, or at the very least, did not believe their work came easily to them. He has been quoted saying “I assure you no art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and study of the great masters; of inspiration, spontaneity, temperament…I know nothing.” Degas’ sentiment is made clear in his paintings of ballerinas. Eliza Rathbone and Elizabeth Steele describe his paintings of ballet saying “Rhythm and repetition, repetition and variation, point and counterpoint are at the core of the discipline of ballet and equally informed and permeated Degas’s own work.” In other words, Degas created artwork depicting ballerinas rehearsing the same dance steps (over and over) in a multitude of paintings (over and over) through a grueling process which often featured him meticulously sketching individual figures in the pieces multiple times before composing the final piece.
Contrary to the romantic notions of genius, Degas’s process is quite common. The fact of the matter is that the act of creation is often very painful. This exhibit seeks to push back against the romantic idea of the “artistic genius” by revealing how Degas, Paul Cézanne, and Francesco Allegrini each practice and develop their ideas in their work.
Francesco Allegrini, Horses
1624-1663
Pen and brown ink
2-15/16 x 9-3/4 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number 80.3.319
This sketch shows six horses in various states of motion. This drawing begs the question: are these six individual horses, or are they multiple depictions of one horse? The way in which they seem to run across the page from right to left creates a strong sense of motion. The horse near the bottom left corner of the page acts as a counterpoint to the leftward motion, as it appears trotting back to the right. There is also a disembodied horse head beneath the hoof of the centermost horse. This suggests that Allegrini is simply sketching to either plan a composition or practice drawing the figures.
Francesco Allegrini, Six Horses
1624-1663
Pen and brown ink
2-15/16 x 9-3/4 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number: 80.3.319
Nearly identical to his sketch Horses, this work once again features six horses in various states of motion. These drawings do not direct the eye in any particular direction. There is no clear focal point. Furthermore, there is a strange imbalance in the composition, with there being four horses in the left and centermost parts of the page, while the right side features two horses simply standing. This lack of structure in the work seems to indicate that it's not a finished piece, but rather they are sketches like the ones found in Horses.
Francesco Allegrini, Horsemen Hunting
1624-1663
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash
2-11/16 x 4-15/16 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number: 80.3.538
This work reveals the potential application of the horse figures found in Horses and Six Horses. Three horsemen (two on the right and one on the left) run toward the center of the page while on the hunt, with one horsemen in the center of the page riding toward the right. The horses on the left and right create an implied line that creates a triangle on the page. This stable structure of this piece implies that this is a piece of greater importance than just a mere sketch.
Edgar Degas, Dancers Practicing at the Barre
1877
Mixed media on canvas
29 3/4 x 32 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number: 29.100.34
Degas is renowned for his ability to depict motion and rhythm in his paintings. He achieves this effect in this painting through his use of negative space, shape, and line. The lines of the floorboards, the barre, and the wall all combine to create the sense of an active environment. The two dancers mirror each other, both creating triangles that point away from one another. Furthermore, the watering can near the bottom left corner of the canvas mirrors the dancer on the far right of the canvas. The practice barre is a frequently occurring image in Degas’s work.
Edgar Degas, Study of Nude (Dancer at the Barre)
1884-1900
Charcoal on tracing paper laid down on card
42 5/16 × 29 1/8 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number: 2019.598
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This charcoal sketch is evidence of Degas’s creative process. The nude figure bears a clear resemblance to the two dancers in Dancers Practicing at the Barre, yet this sketch was composed sometime between 1884 and 1900. The aforementioned painting was painted in 1877, so this was not a sketch for that specific painting. This sketch was, instead, an exercise to further develop the concept of the dancers at the practice barre.
Edgar Degas, Ballet Rehearsal
c. 1891
Oil on Canvas
18 ⅞ x 34 ⅝ in.
Yale University Art Gallery, Accession Number 1952.43.1
In this oil painting, Degas clearly displays his strengths as a painting: rhythm and motion. Much like in Allegrini’s Horses, this work instantly draws the viewer to the bottom right corner of the canvas and then leads their eye across the canvas to the upper left hand corner in a graceful, curving line. In the background we can once again see Degas depicting the ballerinas at the practice barre. Degas echoes the stretch the dancers are performing in the background at the practice barre with a dancer in the foreground who is sitting on the bench adjusting her ballet outfit with her leg raised as if it were resting on the barre.
Paul Cézanne, Bathers Under a Bridge
1894-1898
Watercolor over graphite
8 1/4 x 10 11/16 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number: 55.21.2
Bathers Under a Bridge depicts a small crowd of figures in the foreground with a bridge rising above them in the background. Cézanne immediately directs the viewer to look to the highest point of the bridge which is centered on the page, creating a triangle in the middle of the piece. This triangle provides a grounding presence in an image that raises a multitude of questions to the viewer. It is unclear whether these bathers are swimming, laying in shallow water, or relaxing on the ground. There is ambiguity between what figures are actually people and what figures are not. Cézanne does not make it clear where these bodies start and where they end. Instead he blends them together into one large mass of humanity. The most vividly depicted body in the image is the nude figure which rests in the lower middle portion of the page, facing away from the viewer. This lounging nude is a recurring figure in Cézanne’s paintings of bathers.
1894-1905
Oil on canvas
50 x 77 in.
The National Gallery, London, Inventory Number: NG6359
Paul Cézanne, The Large Bathers
1900-1906
Oil on Canvas
6 ft. 10 ⅞ in. x 8 ft. 2 ¾ in.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Accession Number: W1937-1-1
In this work, Cézanne seems to more fully develop his concept for his painting Bathers. In The Large Bathers, he once again depicts a group of bathers in the nude, most of which are looking out into the water. In this depiction of the bathers, Cézanne reveals to the viewer that the bathers are looking across the water at two figures on the opposite shore. He positions many of the figures in a similar manner to those in Bathers. The reuses the figure to the left of the piece, which stands upright and is walking toward the center of the group. He also keeps the two figures who stand beside each other on the right side of the canvas, leaning forward slightly with their backs turned to the viewer. Once again, we see Cézanne recount the reclining nude figure from his watercolor Bathers Under a Bridge.
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