Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin
Degas's portrait study capturing a woman in a hat and fur stole in a few pastel strokes; the finished painting is in the Art Institute of Chicago. Full commentary ↓
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Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin is a pastel by Edgar Degas (ca. 1879) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 48.9 × 31.7 cm.
In the pictureThis is the upper body of a woman drawn in black and white pastel on gray-green paper. The brimmed hat, the black fur around her neck and the outline of her full skirt are caught in a few lines, and at upper left the same woman's face is drawn once more in profile. Almost no color is used, and the color of the paper serves as the middle tone.
BackgroundDegas made this study in preparation for his 1879 portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin (in the Art Institute of Chicago). The finished work shows her after a costume ball, and there is a story that when she expressed dissatisfaction with the finished painting, Degas wrote a scathing letter saying he would take back the painting and give her instead a picture of just the hat and stole. In the rough lines of the study you can see how Degas first worked out the figure's pose and the mass of the clothing.
Puzzle tipAs a drawing with almost no color, it is on the hard side as a puzzle. Sort the pieces into three groups: dark pieces of black fur, pieces with strong white pastel, and pieces of bare paper, and fill in the bare pieces starting from the edges. Starting with 24 or 48 pieces is recommended.
- Artist
- French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris
- Classification
- Drawings
- Medium
- Pastel on toned greenish gray paper
- Dimensions
- 48.9 × 31.7 cm
- Credit line
- Bequest of Nanette B. Kelekian, 2020
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
In these collections: Portrait and Self-Portrait Puzzles
Stories about this work
- Puzzle Tips for Degas and Lautrec Drawings, Down to the Paper Color
Pastel on gray-green paper, a lithograph printed in olive ink. How do you solve puzzles of drawings and prints that have almost no color?
