Portrait after a Costume Ball (Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin)

Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas · 1879

Medium

Distemper, metallic paint, and pastel, on canvas

Original size

85.7 × 75.3 cm (33 3/4 × 29 5/8 in.); Framed: 108 × 97.8 × 6.4 cm (42 1/2 × 38 1/2 × 2 1/2 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Realism

Portrait after a Costume Ball catches Madame Dietz-Monnin in a moment suspended between performance and stillness — her elaborate fur-trimmed hat dominating the canvas while her face retreats into shadow and uncertainty. Degas painted this in 1879 using an experimental combination of distemper, metallic paint, and pastel on canvas, a departure from conventional portraiture that reflects his restless approach to surface and material. Where his contemporaries sought polish, Degas pursued texture and atmosphere, layering media to achieve a muted, almost theatrical luminosity. The metallic paint gives the work a shimmering quality unlike anything produced through oil alone, placing it in a category of its own within his output. The portrait was never delivered. Madame Dietz-Monnin reportedly requested that Degas paint out her face entirely and reduce the work to just the hat, an offer he refused. The painting remained in his studio until his death, unresolved and uncompromised. Our hand-painted oil reproduction translates the mood and tonal complexity of the original onto canvas with the same care Degas brought to every surface decision — preserving the atmospheric depth and quiet tension that make this one of his most unusual and compelling portraits.