Five Dancing Women by Degas
Five Dancing Women is a pastel painting by Degas that features the subject for which he is best known. More than half of his works feature dancers and they were the subject that he most identified with. Done sometime in the late 19th century, this pastel piece of art depicts five beautiful ballerinas. The dancers appear on stage mid-performance. Degas is considered by many to be an impressionist despite the fact that he thought himself to be much more of a realist.
This piece was part of the collection of Baron Mor Lipot Herzog who had one of the greatest art collections in all of Europe. It was the largest in Hungary and featured more than 2,500 works of art. Baron Mor Lipot Herzog died in 1934 and the collection then went to his widow who died in 1940. After that, the art collection was passed down to his three children, Andras, Istevan and Erzsebet.
In 1944, Hungary an ally of Nazi Germany not only began forcing all Jews to register their art but also began sending them to Nazi death camps. The Herzog family attempted to save their art by hiding in the basement of one of their factories, but it was eventually discovered. Andras was sent to a work camp where he later died, but his daughters did manage to escape.
Today a significant portion of the Herzog collection is on display in various museums throughout Hungary. The family has filed suits to try and get the art back but to no avail. There has also been no information on what happened to this Degas work but it has not appeared in any museums in Hungary. The art was divided soon after it was found with some of the art staying in Hungary and some being sent to Germany.