The Burrell Collection in Glasgow houses more than twenty paintings, pastels, and drawings by Edgar Degas (1834–1917) that include his most recognisable motifs: ballet dancers, bathers, jockeys, and women at work. Together with a selection of the National Gallery’s oils and pastels, they represent every stage of Degas’s career.

The authors show how the immediacy of these works is enhanced by the artist’s energetic technique. These are not so much spontaneous sketches as daring experiments in form and color. Essays explore Degas’s innovative use of pastels; his career and the ongoing critical assessment of his art; and the life and milieu of his contemporary Sir William Burrell, the wealthy Scottish shipping magnate and philanthropist, for whom forming this impressive collection of Degas’s works was an unusual foray into contemporary art.