Portrait of a Woman in Gray by Degas in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2023

Title: Portrait of a Woman in Gray

Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)

Date: ca. 1865

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 36 x 28 1/2 in. (91.4 x 72.4 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin C. Vogel, 1957

Accession Number: 57.17

This beguiling sitter is depicted as if in a transitory moment, seemingly about to rise from the sofa, a slight smile on her lips. Degas rarely painted a face that reflects such good humor and calm. The woman is unidentified, but may well have been someone the artist knew intimately. He executed few commissioned portraits, preferring instead to depict family and friends, and seldom sold the portraits that he did paint. This work was in Degas’s studio at the time of his death and was included in his 1918 estate sale, as indicated by the stamped signature in the lower right corner.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436152