Degas’s dancers not only demonstrate the beauty of ballet, they reveal a sinister system of sexual exploitation
They lure you in from a distance and promise pure aesthetic pleasure: pastel-colored tutus, beautiful girls. Once you get there, look closer. You notice the darkness around the edges; you wonder about the battered foot in the pointe shoe. Degas’s dancers fascinate for the same reason as the ballet itself. A new exhibition, Discovering Degas, … Read more