Negative Space

InsideArt:

Somehow I got on the mailing list of InsideArt and daily I receive interesting commentary on various topics related to the art and techniques of painting. For example, todays email contained five suggestions of how to paint clouds to make them more believable. Although not directly applicable to photography, many of their suggestions on composition and other topics are more than relevant as is the topic of this painting by Edgar Degas on negative space.

Degas was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement in Paris but refused to call himself an impressionist, rather he claimed to be a realist. He is known for his mastery of portraits, of Parisian life and his off-centered paintings like the one here.

The composition is so interesting to me how Degas put the two subjects on the upper right of the painting leaving the space to the left and front empty converting loneliness. Of course this is amplified the the man looking out of the frame to the right and the woman, staring vacantly more towards the floor than to another person. Adding to her stupor are the feet, placed apart.

Of interest to me is Absinthe is a very potent, clear alcohol that was popular in France during Degas life and frond upon as being part of the Bohemian life. Because of absinthe high alcohol level which made it very addictive, it was later banned in both the US and Europe.

As a last comment, my grandmother was a Dugas and I was curious if at some point the spelling got changed from Degas to Dugas. but no. The Dugas go all the way back to the early settlement of Acadia in Nova Scotia in the 1650’s and the original spelling of Edgar Degas name was De Gas.