Few days ago I was laughing with my “husband” recalling one of our first and worst week-end spent together, heading to a big Impressionist art exhibition in Treviso fifteen years ago. What could possibly go wrong …went wrong, wrong turns, car broken, but finally we made it. It was there that I fell in love with Degas’s ballet dancers, Degas’s paintings of ballet dancers capture the essence of what makes a dancer special, the elegance and beauty, the balance and the grace, poise and precision of movement, vulnerability and self-confidence, always on center of the stage. It just hits me, they were like beautiful brides and I would love to make a wedding blog out of it. What  makes the Impressionist painting so special for me it’s their vivid colours and the light.

 

 

Edgar Degas - Dancer slipping on her shoe (1874)

  

 

 

I’m not an art expert, just a person who likes art and beauty, so for this blog I got involved a dear friend of mine, a painter and art teacher, Laura Rossi. We both started searching for impressionist dancer or ballet paintings besides Degas to match stunning wedding gowns  “masterpieces of art and beauty” them too . The idea was simple, find in the matching wedding gowns, the same beauty, colors,light and bring back to mind the same atmosphere, invoke the same emotions watching both the painting  and  the wonderful dream dress toning it. It was so fun, something like between us: “ Look at this Renoir or this Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, or this … you have to find the matching dresses, just find them”.

 

 

Pierre Auguste Renoir - Dancing girl with castanets (1909)

 

 

 

It was a challenge, we go beyond France and even beyond the “pure impressionist movement”  like we did with the artist Julius Leblanc Stewart who created a style of his own in the same period (1860 – early 1900s), but I loved his “The ball” painting and I added it. We did an incursion into Romanticism with Mihály Zichy for his “Ball in the Concert Hall of the Winter Palace during the Official Visit of Nasir al-Din Shah in May 1873”.

 

 

Mihaly Zichy

Ball in the Concert Hall of the Winter Palace during the Official Visit of Nasir al-Din Shah in May 

Corinne ball gown and photo courtesy of Galia Lahav 

 

 

I couldn’t help but to count up also William T. Warrener, with its bright colors and can-can dancers…

 

 

William Tom Warrener - Quadrille II (circa 1890)

 

 

 

What about the “Masqurade ball”, “Court balls” and  “Elegant soirees” of the late 1800s, could I leave them out of my blog? Of course not … so Laura made me deviate also from impressionism to Realism … always having our noses in art books and my eyes only for stunning bridal collections …

 

 

Ward Vernon - Masquerade Ball

 

 

 

I just hope you will enjoy and you will have fun with this gallery as I did.

 

 

Edgar Degas - Ballet rehearsal on stage (1874)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Standing Dancer Holding Tutu

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Blue Dancers (circa 1899)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Finishing the arabesque (1877)

 

 

 

Edgard Degas – Ballet scene (1879)

 

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec – Ballet Dancers (1885)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Two Dancers at Rest (circa 1898)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Bowing Dancer (circa 1880)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Three Dancers in Yellow Skirts (circa 1904)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas – Ballet dancers (1900)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Dancers at the Barre (1873)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas – Dancer (1877)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Dancer with Raised Arms (1891)

 

 

 

Pierre Auguste Renoir – Dance in the Country Study (circa 1893)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - The Ballet Rehearsal (circa 1876)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Three Dancers

 

 

 

Pierre Auguste Renoir - Dance in the City (1883)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Three Dancers in an Exercise Hall (1880)

 

 

 

Julius LeBlanc Stewart – The Ball (1885)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas – Pink Dancer (1900)

 

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - The Spanish Dancer (1888)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas – Three Ballet Dancers, One With Dark Crimson Waist (1899)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas – Seated Dancer in Profile (1871)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas – Pink dancers (circa 1895)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas – Dancer (1896)

 

 

 

Edgard Degas - Dancer Bending Forward (1881)

 

 

 

Pierre Auguste Renoir – Dance at Bougival (1883)

 

 

 

Pierre Carrier-Belleuse - La danseuse (1892)

 

 

 

Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel – Court ball in the castle Reinsberg (1862)

 

 

Jean Berod – Elegant Soiree (1878)

 

 

 

Edgar Degas - Three dancers (circa 1904)

 

 

 

Thanks to all of you.

Marcella Lavarini