Patience Meditation with a Degas Dancer

How does your body feel when you wait? Slow down and explore your body’s experience of patience (and impatience) inspired by Edgar Degas’s enigmatic pastel drawing Waiting (about 1882).

A dancer and an accompanying figure sit on a bench, their bodies bent forward in a state of fatigue. Rendered in pastel, with vivid streaks of color and variations in technique, Degas masterfully animates a scene that is otherwise still.

This scene raises more questions than it answers: how are the two figures related? Where are they? And what exactly are they waiting for? There are no obvious answers, and yet the emotions and exhaustion here are palpable.

In this final meditation of the season, we explore the sensations of patience—physically and emotionally—in an exercise that invites you to breathe, reflect, and recover as you wait.

This podcast uses chapters. If you'd like to jump straight to the meditation, find the forth chapter.

You can watch this episode on YouTube here: https://gty.art/4wZysOS

Find images, a transcript, and more resources on our website: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/ommm/patience-meditation-degas-dancer/

To see this work in person, visit the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.

What does a New York Times dance critic think about Degas and patience? Find a conversation with Gia Kourlas in your podcast feed or on our YouTube channel Thursday, or find it on our website. Find it in your podcast feed or on our YouTube channel Thursday, or find it on our website.

Production team:

Host: Lilit Sadoyan

Producers: Zoe Goldman and Gideon Brower

Video Editor: Jeremy Rhodes

Mixer and Sound Designer: Jaime Roque

Executive Producer: Christopher Sprinkle

For more art history insights, check out our other Getty Podcasts shows at www.getty.edu/podcasts

• Recording Artists tells artist biographies using archival material from the Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recording-artists/
• If Objects Could Talk is a family-friendly show where Getty museum objects, like a Greek vase or porcelain clock, come alive to share their story: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/if-objects-could-talk/
• ReCurrent chronicles the people who shape our culture and keep the past alive: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/recurrent/
• Art + Ideas showcases interviews with artists, architects, scientists, and cultural luminaries by former Getty President Jim Cuno: https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/art-and-ideas/

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