Who made it?
This painting was created by a French artist named, Edgar Degas, in 1874.
Where is the REAL one?
The real painting can be seen at The Courtauld Gallery in London, England.
Why is this artwork important?
Throughout his career, Degas loved to create artwork that depicted moving subjects, such as people and animals in motion. Of the many artworks Degas created, many of them were of ballet dancers, for which he has now become famous. Degas admired the dancer's ability to function like a graceful machine that could crouch, turn, twist and stretch. He saw them as creatures of muscle and bone whose grace and lightness were the result of incredibly hard work. Degas observed dancers backstage at classes and rehearsals, as well as performances. His pictures of dancers appear as though they were created right on the spot. In fact, they were created in his studio, from memory and from quick sketches. Using pastels or thick brushstrokes, Degas could re-create the glow of stagelights upon the dancers, such as the bright light in the Two Dancer's skirts. In every sense, Two Dancers is a typical Impressionist painting, a style that Degas is recognized as working within. Its use of light and its effect on color, its depiction of a scene taken from everyday life and rendered in heavy, quick brushstrokes to capture the movement are all important signs of an Impressionist picture.
