Pocket Guide -> Categories -> European Modernism -> The Breakfast
The Breakfast
by Edgar Degas · French, 1834 - 1917
| Creation Date: | circa 1885 |
| Media & Support: | Pastel and graphite over monotype on cream paper, laid down |
| Dimensions: | 15 5/16 x 11 7/16 inches |
| Credit: | Gift of Howard D. and Babette L. Sirak, the Donors to the Campaign for Enduring Excellence, and the Derby Fund |
Among Edgar Degas’s most memorable pictures are intimate scenes of women bathing or performing other personal rituals. A master draftsman, Degas explored with intensity and pleasure the potential of pastel for spontaneous, sensuous expression. In this work, Degas captured the model in the act of sipping from a cup, with her face turned away and her body relaxed. He has achieved a mood of quiet reverie, placing the viewer discreetly behind the model, looking down at her.
