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Portrait after a Costume Ball (Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin)

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Compare the pale costume and raised gloved hand with the dark scarf, then look for the chair partly cut off at the left.

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Degas made this portrait with distemper, metallic paint, and pastel on canvas, a different combination from conventional oil paint. Madame Dietz-Monnin’s costume and upward glance dominate the close view, while the chair and background are only partly described. The varied materials accompany an equally varied treatment of surfaces.

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Distemper, metallic paint, and pastel, on canvas · 85.7 × 75.3 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Impressionism

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Museum title
Portrait after a Costume Ball (Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin)
Artist
Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
Date
1879
Medium
Distemper, metallic paint, and pastel, on canvas
Dimensions
85.7 × 75.3 cm (33 3/4 × 29 5/8 in.); Framed: 108 × 97.8 × 6.4 cm (42 1/2 × 38 1/2 × 2 1/2 in.)
Credit line
Joseph Winterbotham Collection
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
Art Institute of Chicago

Artist’s life 1834–1917

Impressionism c. 1860–1900

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

Portrait after a Costume Ball (Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin) · Edgar Degas, 1879
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Portrait after a Costume Ball (Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin), Edgar Degas

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