Edgar Degas - The Dream Archive from the Musée d'Orsay
Until May 3rd, a selection of 130 works from the archives of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris is on show in the Albertina in Vienna. Besides well known masterpieces, “The Dream Archive” shows works less known to the Austrian public, thus offering an insight into the wealth of France’s art history.
Portraits of women are obviously an important part of Edgar Degas’ personal dream archive. The Albertina has some particularly fine pastel and charcoal drawings on display, showing women in very intimate settings doing very intimate things. The director of the Albertina K.A. Schröder pointed out that the portrayed characters are evidently prostitutes, performing their pre- and postcoital lavations in a brothel. For the public of our era, this situation is not as evident as to the observer at the time, and the scandal that these voyeuristic representations must have caused back then is difficult to relate to for the jaded observer of today. (Text: Cem Angeli)
An exhibition-portrait by CastYourArt. | castyourart.com