Woman Adjusting her Hair – (Edgar Degas) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Edgar Degas

Date: 1884

Size: 63 x 59 cm

Museum: The Courtauld Institute of Art (London, United Kingdom)

Technique: Drawing

Degas’s fascination with the movement of the human body extended to the rituals of the everyday, with some of his finest works focusing on the intimate and ordinary moments of women bathing, grooming and dressing. The spectacle of women trying on hats captured Degas’s imagination and he frequently returned to the theme. This elegant woman, seen from a high viewpoint, may be a customer in a milliner’s shop. She raises both arms, perhaps to adjust her hair, which fashion dictated should be pinned up, or, more likely, to place a toque (a type of small, brimless hat) upon her head. Bold charcoal lines and deep shading against luminous pastel render the sinuous curves of her gently twisting torso as she sits before the loosely described mirror. The drawing shows Degas rethinking his initial ideas, as various alterations are immediately visible: a second piece of paper was added to the top of the sheet to extend the figure; the position of her left elbow has been moved; and the curve of her back and right arm have been redrawn. Degas’s summary description of the mirror contrasts with his careful observation of the woman’s skirt, with its dramatically lit folds and precise hatching. Though this pastel may have begun as a preparatory study for Degas’s painting Woman Trying on a Hat (fig. 67), it was likely reworked into its present state either during or after the canvas was completed.