At the Milliner’’s
Modiste Garnissant Un Chapeau
Edgar Degas was obsessed with the unglamorous reality of women at work, and here we see a milliner deeply focused on trimming a large, dark hat. Instead of a polished, flattering portrait, he gives us a candid, top-down glimpse into her daily labor, rendered in his signature scratchy, energetic style. Degas produced over a hundred works featuring hat makers, fascinated by the intense, almost sculptural concentration required to craft Parisian fashion. It’s a raw, intimate look at the people behind the glamour of 19th-century Paris.