Edgar Degas | The Singer in Green | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)
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Postcard Story – The Singer in Green – Edgar Degas – 1884 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Postcard Story – The Singer in Green – Edgar Degas – 1884 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art – “No, this Painting Angers Me”
Third Granddaughter – 01/03/22
…and he surprised her, no, shocked her, when he said out loud, “No, this painting angers me,” though his voice was not loud and there was no anger upon his face or in his voice, which made his words even stronger, more…emphatic, yes, that was the word. And she turned to look to her grandfather again and instead of anger, there was sadness and she asked him why did the painting make him angry, and he said quietly, “Because of you. I’m angry for you.”
For they had stood a while before the painting, and as usual, he had spoken of the artwork before them and he had told her he wondered about the title, for the only green it seemed to him was the dirty yellow green field of color to the left of the singer, for he mostly saw the blues of her dress and its top fringe and the ribbons around her neck and attached to her hair, and how the painting was a wonderful composition and beautiful and full of life through the energetic brushstrokes of the background and of her dress, and the girl was wonderfully painted with innocent beauty and grace, and then he paused deep in thought.
And she said, “Oh, yes, this is a happy painting, and it makes you happy”, and that’s when he said no, it angers him. She was stunned and silent for a moment, then moving in front of her grandfather putting herself between the painting and him so she could look into his face, she asked, “Why does this painting make you angry.”
And looking into her eyes he said, “In life, in art, there are many things that are beautiful on the surface and this painting is beautiful, and yet when you understand the story, the reality behind what was created as art, even generations after it was painted, you can see what was seen and what was captured on canvas and here is a young girl, just about your age, who is painted singing, probably mostly for an audience of men, old men, a young girl, a daughter of a working-class family, with family hopes and her own hopes of no longer being poor, and the painting doesn’t tell or even now hint of all of what she has had to allow or endure to bring her to the stage to sing for the same men, and future men, who will use her. I never want you to become as her, for all girls, actually everyone, wants to sing, and perhaps even now it is still difficult to sing without being used, the way of the world, but always remember, there are many ways to sing and perhaps your way to sing is to write, and to sing and write so other girls will not have to sing as this young girl from long ago.”
And because he was looking in her eyes, the only thing she could say to her grandfather was, “Yes”.
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