{"id":392,"date":"2011-07-21T18:56:03","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T17:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sallypommeclayton.com\/blog\/?p=392"},"modified":"2023-06-22T13:51:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T12:51:56","slug":"writing-a-painting-degas-and-the-ring-poem-from-a-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/makeandbelieve.uk\/?p=392","title":{"rendered":"Writing a painting – Degas and the ring – poem from a performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
H\u00e9l\u00e8ne’s  Hands – Degas 1886<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

What circles one and binds two?<\/strong>
A ring. <\/strong>
An engagement ring,<\/strong>
a wedding ring.<\/strong>
H\u00e9l\u00e8ne was about to be married,<\/strong>
and Degas painted out her ring. <\/strong>
He painted out her engagement ring. <\/strong>
You can see the shadow there, <\/strong>
a ghost ring, <\/strong>
just visible under the surface<\/strong>
beneath layers of paint. <\/strong>
What did Degas mean by painting out the ring?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did Degas paint out H\u00e9l\u00e8ne’s ring
<\/strong>to trap her in her Father’s study,
<\/strong>caught behind his enormous chair
<\/strong>forever waiting for her unseen father.
<\/strong>Degas painted H\u00e9l\u00e8ne when she was a child
<\/strong>sitting on her Father’s knee,
<\/strong>the same red hair and pale face.
<\/strong>Perhaps he painted out her ring,
<\/strong>to keep her as a child,
<\/strong>keep her for her father,
<\/strong>no hope of husband, or escape,
<\/strong>just another statue in her father’s collection.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did <\/strong>Degas paint out H\u00e9l\u00e8ne’s ring
<\/strong>because he wanted her hand to move?
<\/strong>He painted over
<\/strong>over painted
<\/strong>until the lines flickered,
<\/strong>and the hand came alive,
<\/strong>fluttering and tapping the back of the chair.
<\/strong>Degas painted out the ring
<\/strong>to make space,
<\/strong>spaces within spaces,
<\/strong>frames within frames.
<\/strong>The frame of the paintings,
<\/strong>the border of the wall,
<\/strong>the edges of the display case,
<\/strong>the lines of the chair.
<\/strong>All the objects seem alive,
<\/strong>and we are unsure what it is we are looking at.
<\/strong>Is it a corridor,
<\/strong>a reflection,
<\/strong>a doorway to another room,
<\/strong>a mirror?
<\/strong>Nothing is as it seems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Rouart in her Father’s Study – Degas 1886<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

 Did Degas paint out H\u00e9l\u00e8ne’s ring <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

so she would go beyond the limits of her life? <\/strong>
Degas depicted women’s roles <\/strong>
wife and mother, <\/strong>
laundress and ballerina, <\/strong>
mistress, servant, <\/strong>
dutiful daughter. <\/strong>
But H\u00e9l\u00e8ne gazes into the distance. <\/strong>
Beneath her composure <\/strong>
she is dreaming, <\/strong>
desiring. <\/strong>
Does she long <\/strong>to travel to the lands of the objects that surround her? <\/strong>
To the China of the wall hanging, <\/strong>
Corot’s Naples, <\/strong>
Egypt <\/strong>
and the statues of Sun God Ra <\/strong>
and Osiris God of fertility?<\/strong>
Degas painted out the ring <\/strong>
to liberate Helene’s desire.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Degas painted out the ring <\/strong>
so H\u00e9l\u00e8ne could be free. <\/strong>
Not daughter, wife, or mother, <\/strong>
but woman. <\/strong>
Free to dream, <\/strong>
to travel, <\/strong>
to imagine her own future. <\/strong>
He painted out the ring, <\/strong>
so H\u00e9l\u00e8ne could be bold and adventurous, <\/strong>
just like his paintings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sally Pomme Clayton July 2011<\/em><\/p>\n