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Your galleryPortrait 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.
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.
Distemper, metallic paint, and pastel, on canvas · 85.7 × 75.3 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Impressionism
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Details and source
- 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
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.







