By 1872, Degas had begun to specialize in genre scenes of women at work, especially music-hall performers and ballet dancers. In his paintings of these subjects, he often included background figures pausing from tedious labors to stretch or yawn, as if to underline his goal of capturing unedited glimpses of daily life. It has been suggested that the Kimbell drawing might have originated as a study for a never-realized detail in one of these multifigured paintings. Title Dancer Stretching Creator Edgar Degas Creator Lifespan 1834 - 1917 Creator Nationality French Creator Gender Male Date Created c. 1882¨C85 Physical Dimensions 18 3/8 x 11 11/16 in. (46.7 x 29.7 cm) Provenance Sold for Fr. 12,200 (Degas sale II, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 11-15 December 1918, no. 175); bought back at that sale by Ren¨¦ de Gas (the artist¡¯s younger brother), Paris, until his estate sale, 10 November 1927; by inheritance to Roland Nepveu de Gas (son-in-law of Ren¨¦ de Gas) from 1927 until at least 1943. Hal B. Wallis, [1898-1986] Los Angeles, by 1958; L. A. Nicholls, England, until 1959; (sale, Sotheby¡¯s London, 25 November 1959, lot 54); purchased for ¡ê8,400 by (M. Knoedler and Co., New York); purchased by John D. Rockefeller III [1906-1978], 27 October 1960; John D. Rockefeller III collection until 1968; purchased by (Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., New York); purchased by Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, 1968. Rights Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas Medium Pastel on pale blue-gray paper Japanese French Century 19th century Artist Dates (1834¨C1917)
