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This monograph dedicated to the work of Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is a decisive contribution to the studies on the French artist. Its truly innovative focus underlines discussions related to "dance, politics and society", as indicated by the subtitle of the book, with special attention to issues of gender, identity, work, race, prostitution and representation of women, so pertinent to our time. Degas is considered a complete artist, working on various techniques and, at the end of his life, left as a legacy about 6,000 works, of which 2,000 related to the universe of dance and ballet. Its contradictions and ambiguities, especially the fact that it is based between tradition and modernity, reaffirm the uniqueness of the artist in the history of Western art. This book includes ten essays specially written for publication by experts around the world, plus an introductory text from the volume organizers. The book also comprises a visual essay: a series of photographs made by Sofia Borges in an extensive research of the artist around the bronze sculptures belonging to the Museum of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, both the iconic fourteen-year-old Ballerina and other bronzes. The artist worked throughout 2020 making countless photographs of the Degas works in the MASP's collection and in the technical reserve. With her camera, she reinterprets and designs new images for sculptures that are true classics in the museum's collection. In this operation, Borges' extraordinary photographs reveal, transform and update Degas' works in an innovative and radical way. Borges' images are displayed on Lina Bo Bardi's glass easels and on panels in the gallery on the first floor of the museum, in close dialogue with the sculptures. The installation with easels and showcases, in a room painted in gradient and with an "infinite background" in black color, offers a truly immersive experience to see and review Degas. Two other photographs of Borges are exhibited on the front and back of an easel (in a new assembly for the museum's iconic device), on the site where fourteen-year-old Ballerina is usually exhibited on the second floor, space for the museum's collection
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