Mme. Michel Musson and Her Daughters, Estelle and Désirée

Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas · January 6, 1865

Medium

Watercolor, with touches of charcoal, brush and red chalk wash, heightened with white gouache, over graphite on cream wove paper

Original size

35 × 26.5 cm (13 13/16 × 10 7/16 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Romanticism

This intimate family portrait reveals a quieter, more tender side of Degas than his celebrated ballet scenes — three women rendered with delicate restraint, their presence both formal and deeply personal. Painted in January 1865, the work predates Degas's association with Impressionism and shows him working with remarkable technical complexity: watercolor layered over graphite, accented with red chalk wash, charcoal, and white gouache highlights. The result is luminous and soft, with a warmth that purely oil-based work rarely achieves. It reflects Degas's lifelong interest in portraiture as a space for psychological observation rather than flattery. The subjects were his own family — Mme. Michel Musson was his maternal aunt, and Estelle and Désirée were his cousins. Estelle later lost her sight, and Degas remained close to her throughout her life, painting her again years later with unmistakable affection. Because the original is a works-on-paper piece held at the Art Institute of Chicago, seeing it in reproduction is often the only option for most people. Our hand-painted oil version translates its delicate tonal range and human warmth into a format built to last — a faithful interpretation rendered with care by a trained studio artist.