The Secrets of Degas Enclosed in Seven Hats

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) created 'In the Millinery' in 1882. It is a delicate and magnificent pastel that has survived in an exceptional state of preservation. A popular scene with two Parisian bourgeois women trying on hats. Up to seven hats appear in this work, one of the jewels of the Thyssen collection, which has been the subject of a meticulous and revealing technical study. Developed over more than a year with the sponsorship of the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation, it has unveiled many of the secrets of the brilliant French artist.

Degas' favourite subject was dancers, to which he dedicated more than fifteen hundred works. However, he was also interested in everyday scenes featuring laundresses, singers, and workers. He dedicated 27 paintings to milliners. Most are pastels, but there are also oils and drawings created from 1890 onwards. In the Thyssen piece, which is earlier, the lady trying on the hat is the American painter Mary Cassatt. It is also an evocation of the classic 'toilette' of women, a constant in the history of painting since the mythological allegories of Venus' bath.

Thanks to the meticulous study, Degas' use of certain materials in this and other similar pastels has been precisely determined. "Essential information for achieving better conservation of his works," appreciates conservator Alejandra Martos, who led the study that included infrared reflectography, X-rays, macrophotography, and sophisticated chemical analyses.

"Degas had a reputation for misogyny, but he devoted much of his work to bourgeois and working women," highlights Guillermo Solana, artistic director of the Thyssen, for whom the French artist was "a journalist or sociologist of his time."

Infrared reflectography has provided information about the underlying layer of the drawing, demonstrating that "the work was planned from the start, as only slight modifications are seen in the final result, which are part of the creative process," confirming that Degas was "a formidable draftsman."

The X-ray image confirms the good state of preservation of the fragile piece, "without loss of materials" and that it is displayed in a sophisticated "climatic box." It is painted on very humble supports, a rigid cardboard overlaid with paper without any adhesive "which has been providential for its conservation."

The study documents Degas' unprecedented and refined pastel technique, layering successive colours that he managed to apply without mixing, with transparency and contrast. He stabilized each layer by spraying a fixative over the pastel. "This allowed the colours not to be destroyed or altered, and he could add as many layers as he wanted, creating volumes with the desired effects," experts detail.

Alejandra Martos has confirmed that he used a specific fixative based on casein created by the Italian Luigi Chialiva, a painter, architect, and chemist established in Paris, a great friend of Degas, who would patent it years later in the United States.

Solana recalls that "the hat was the 'top' of fashion in Paris at the time," and that "there were hundreds of milliners, who decorated their elaborate designs with expensive ostrich feathers, flowers, even with stuffed hummingbirds."

"Degas sides with the milliner, for whom he has great sympathy. Just as he painted his dancers backstage or in rehearsals, with the milliners he focuses on a workshop scene, showing us what is behind the counter of the millinery, just as he reflects what is behind the stage in theatre and dance."

"He pays homage to these artisans by elevating them to the category of artists, comparing their hats to a painter's palette," summarises Solana, for whom "Degas' curiosity and experimental zeal is comparable to that of Leonardo Da Vinci." He recalls how critic Joris-Karl Huysmans spoke of Degas as "an excellent 'hat'" and praised "his great skill in capturing fabrics." "If the painter is a bit of a milliner, the milliner is somewhat of a painter," Solana maintains.

The Baron Thyssen acquired the delicate pastel by Degas in the 1970s, which had previously had very few owners. "It is in magnificent condition because Degas took great care of his works, but it is miraculous that such a fragile work has survived so well to this day," insists the conservator.

The eldest son of a wealthy Parisian family, Degas left his law studies to pursue painting. He trained in the studio of Louis Lamothe, a disciple of Ingres. Linked to the group of Impressionists, he considered himself a realist or naturalist painter, and his admiration for Ingres' refined drawing marked his entire production.

He was a virtuoso in all artistic techniques, but from 1870 he turned to pastel, revealing himself as a prodigious master in this forgotten technique. Popular during the 18th century, it had fallen into disuse and was revived by the Impressionists, with Degas opening up a new expressive world to represent movement and the fleetingness of his scenes.