At the Milliner’s by Degas

The realist masterpiece titled “Dans la chapellerie” was executed by the virtuoso painter Degas Edgar, illustrating the modernity of Parisian life. This work lies at the heart of the artist’s naturalistic explorations of the fashion trade and the bourgeoisie at the end of the nineteenth century. The painter captures a moment of daily life with an innovative social acuity, far from academic and frozen representations.

The asymmetrical composition is organized around two women surrounded by hats in the process of creation. On the left, a seated customer seen from behind, wearing a brown jacket and a dark headpiece, contemplates the scene. On the right, a young red-haired woman, dressed in a blue dress and long yellow gloves, adjusts a navy-blue felt hat on her head while looking into an invisible mirror. Several finished or work-in-progress hats, adorned with blue peacock feathers and white and pink flowers, rest on wooden stands in the foreground. Natural light softly enters from the left, illuminating the woman’s delicate profile and warming the shades of brown, ocher, and blue.

Degas Edgar demonstrates here an exceptional mastery of pastel on paper, creating vaporous and velvety textures. The quick, dense hatchings sculpt the volumes with a great economy of means. The bold and off-center framing gives the scene a photographic dynamic and a striking truth.