Monday 13 May 2013

Hillaire Germaine Edgar Degas - La Coiffure - c. 1896


For once I have very little to say. This painting is perhaps the most extraordinary example of close harmony colours I have ever seen and certainly the most exquisite use of such a burnt palette. You know how well you have used colour when Matisse buys your painting! I like this painting best when I'm as close as the guard will allow, so the construction is clear and my whole vision is filled with colour and the texture of the canvas. I suspect the painting's construction is a legacy of Degas' use of pastels, with simple, soft blocks of colour over a ground of a closely related brown. Its at the National Gallery, in a little dark room full of Degas, and it is well worth dodging the school trips to see.

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