Young Woman with Her Hand over Her Mouth

Edgar Degas

ca. 1875 · Oil colors freely mixed with turpentine on canvas · European Paintings

This painting depicts a woman who appears to have been crying or is ill, in the sort of unguarded moment that Degas explored in his art throughout his career. Painted quickly and with great economy, its emphasis on capturing a transient emotional state marks it as a study rather than a formal portrait. One early owner, the painter Egisto Fabbri (1866–1933), lent the canvas to the first exhibition of Impressionist art in Italy, held at the Lyceum Club in Florence in 1910.

Artist

Edgar Degas

Date

ca. 1875

Medium

Oil colors freely mixed with turpentine on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Gift of the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust, 2018