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The French painter Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is particularly renowned for his paintings with their bright colours. Only a few people are aware that through most of his career the master modelled smaller figures in wax which he used as a kind of basic research for his art. The Glyptotek owns one of only four complete sets of Degas’ bronzes cast from these wax figures. The 72 sculptures are presented as a special exhibit and included in the catalogue. The motifs are among those Degas particularly preferred: the female body during daily toilette, ballerinas keeping their balance in almost impossible postures or race horses in restless motion before the race begins. Degas was preoccupied with movement rather than narrative. The many figures demonstrate the capability of art to apprehend the movements of a second, so that they become eternal. Degas repeated motifs again and again in order to make absolutely clear that every figure is unique. In this way the special exhibit provides an understanding of Degas’ distinctive, meticulous work process. Also among the figures in this special exhibit is Degas’ famous sculpture The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer. This work attracted tremendous attention when she appeared as part of the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in 1881, originally in wax with a wig and tulle skirt.00Exhibition: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark (16.6.2015 to 31.12.2015).