Dancers, Pink and Green: A Pastel in Yamagata

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Degas Dancers Pink And Green: Introduction

Two dancers stand close together in green bodices and pale pink skirts. The nearer figure turns away from us, her hands set at her waist. Her companion is partly cut off by the right edge; one raised hand meets the space near the first dancer's face. This is Edgar Degas's Dancers, Pink and Green (Danseuses, rose et vert), dated 1894 by the Yamagata Museum of Art. The work belongs to the Yoshino Gypsum Collection and is deposited at the museum. It is pastel on paper backed on board. ^{[1] [5]}

This picture matches the museum-linked reproduction in its two figures, coloured ground, lower-right “Degas 94” inscription and cropped right-hand dancer. It is a different object from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s similarly titled, wider oil painting of about 1890. The Met’s accession, medium and dimensions describe a different work. ^[1][2][3]

The work at a glance

• ArtistEdgar Degas (1834–1917)
• TitleDancers, Pink and Green / Danseuses, rose et vert
• Date1894, according to the Yamagata Museum of Art
• Medium and supportPastel on paper, backed on board
• CollectionYoshino Gypsum Collection, deposited at the Yamagata Museum of Art
• DimensionsMuseum collection page: 66.0 × 47.0 cm; a separate exhibition checklist lists 70.9 × 49 cm ^[1][4]

Contents

1. Introduction
2. At a Glance
3. Two figures at the edge of the stage
4. Pink, green and the pastel surface
5. Collection and measurements
6. A title shared with another Degas

Two figures at the edge of the stage

The central dancer's back gives the composition its still point. Her head turns to the right, but her arms bend back toward the middle of her body. The repeated angles of elbows and wrists draw attention to a small exchange between the two figures. We cannot see what is being said, if anything. The raised hand might be part of a gesture, or simply a dancer adjusting herself while waiting. The image does not establish a named performance or choreographed moment. ^[1][3]

Degas gives the right-hand dancer only a partial place in the picture. Her head presses against the upper edge and her body is cut off at the side. That crop makes the pair feel close to us and suggests activity beyond the visible sheet. At left, the dark, loosely worked setting gives the nearer figure's pale tutu room to expand. The two dancers are connected by their costume colours, but the nearer one dominates because her skirt spans almost the full width. ^[1][3]

The nearer figure's feet point in different directions. One is planted near the bottom edge, while the other trails behind. The stance is balanced yet informal, a pause rather than an airborne step. Her face appears only in profile; the view from behind shifts attention to posture, hair and costume. The other dancer's arm and shoulder supply a second rhythm of lines at the right. ^[1][3]

Pink, green and the pastel surface

The title names the picture's most persistent colours. Green marks run through the bodices and the ground; pink gathers in the tutus and the warmer upper area. These colours do not form crisp, enclosed shapes. Short strokes and rubbed passages overlap, especially where the nearer skirt spreads over the darker setting. The pastel surface lets costume and surrounding colour mingle without making the dancer disappear. ^[1][3]

The skirt is especially varied. Cream, pink, mint and blue strokes make its lower edge seem soft and moving, while the bodice is tighter and more heavily marked. Darker lines around the shoulder blades and arms hold the body in place. The contrast between a firmly drawn back and a dissolving tutu keeps our eye moving between figure and atmosphere. ^[1][3]

The inscription visible at lower right reads “Degas 94” in the museum-linked reproduction. It accords with the museum's 1894 date. The image is a useful identity check, but it cannot by itself settle questions about the exact sequence of making, exhibition or ownership. For those facts, the museum's collection record is the stronger source. ^[1][3]

Watch: Edgar Degas

Explore his paintings, drawings and sculpture in three short videos.

Degas, The Dance Class

Smarthistory

Look closely at Degas’s off-duty dancers and his unusual view into the rehearsal room.

Watch on YouTube

▶01 · PaintingThe Dance ClassSmarthistory▶02 · DrawingDrawing movementThe Met▶03 · SculptureConserving DegasThe Met

Collection and measurements

The Yamagata Museum of Art calls the work a pastel on paper backed on board in the Yoshino Gypsum Collection. Its English collection page gives the dimensions as 660 × 470 mm, or 66.0 × 47.0 cm. An Artizon Museum exhibition checklist for a display that included this loan instead lists 70.9 × 49 cm. The two institutional records concern the same titled, dated work but do not explain the measurement difference. The collection holder's dimensions appear in the summary above. ^[1][4]

The museum notes that works in its collection may be on view for limited periods. Its online record establishes the deposit and catalogue details, not that this pastel is currently hanging in a gallery. Visitors should check directly with the museum for display information. ^[1]

A title shared with another Degas

Degas returned to dancers in pink and green more than once. The Met's Dancers, Pink and Green is an oil on canvas, about 1890, measuring 82.2 × 75.6 cm. Several figures cluster beside a dark stage flat in that painting. Neither its composition nor its support matches the tall Yamagata pastel. The shared English title is a reason to compare the records carefully, not a reason to merge them. ^[1][2]

The pastel's two sets of arms carry the scene: the nearer dancer braces her hands at her waist, while the partly visible dancer raises one hand near her face. The tiny distance between those gestures gives the scene its tension. Degas makes a seemingly quiet interval compelling through the crop, the contrasting postures and the shifting pastel colour. ^[1][3]

References

1. Yamagata Museum of Art, Dancers, Pink and Green, title, 1894 date, pastel on paper backed on board, 660 × 470 mm and Yoshino Gypsum Collection; search-indexed owner record checked 27 September 2026. View source
2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dancers, Pink and Green, distinct oil painting, accession 29.100.42; checked 27 September 2026. View source
3. Wikimedia Commons, museum-sourced photograph of the Yamagata pastel, image used for visual comparison; checked 27 September 2026. View source
4. Artizon Museum, Paris Opera exhibition checklist, item III-25, 1894 Yamagata deposit and 70.9 × 49 cm measurement; checked 27 September 2026. View source
5. Edgar Degas, Dancers, Pink and Green / Danseuses, rose et vert, 1894, pastel on paper backed on board. Yoshino Gypsum Collection, deposited at Yamagata Museum of Art, not listed in inspected museum record. Collection record. View source

Related DEGAS Paintings

Dance Class

The Ballet from Robert le Diable

Orchestra Musicians

The Millinery Shop

On the Racecourse

Dancers Backstage

A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers

Portrait of James Tissot