Hats off to Degas

12 x 9

oil on canvas panel

This painting is about observation and appreciation of artistry. These two young women are studying Edgar Degas's "The Millinery Shop" which hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. The subject of Parisian women and their hats was a favorite of the Impressionists. Women wearing hats, women  making hats, women visiting milliners or working in the shops, are all revisited again and again in the works of the most notable artists of that period. Degas completed around two dozen pieces surrounding millinery themes. What was happening in this particular Degas painting is interesting because at first glance it appears a woman of means is in the shop and trying on a finished hat. She is wearing the clothes of the well-to-do customer, an expensive dress and leather gloves. But through an x-ray examination of the painting, it's discovered that Degas repainted the image, obscuring the woman's features and refashioning her to appear more as the hat maker, possibly holding pins in her mouth. I wonder if it began as a commissioned portrait. Whatever the reason, I find it compelling that he changed the story. It's a magnificent painting with a composition and staging that is daring.