Dancers, 1896. Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917). Pastel; sheet: 55.2 x 41 cm (21 3/4 x 16 1/8 in.). Degas depicted the ballet in more than 1,000 paintings, prints, pastels, and sculptures. He preferred private, offstage moments to glamorous curtain calls or artfully constructed compositions. Here, three dancers stretch together in the wings, unaware of the viewers presence. Powdery layers of yellow, orange, and pink pastel create a rough surface characteristic of Degass late work in the medium. He invented special techniques that allowed him to build layer upon layer of color with varying degrees of opacity and transparency. This pastels rich surface and intense, vibrating palette is the result of such innovative methods.