Degas’ Vanishing Dancer: The Quiet Afterlife of Dancer Making Points

A Degas painting’s mysterious disappearance and reappearance reveals how private collecting can leave masterpieces vulnerable.

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Edgar Degas’ Dancer Making Points, a work whose intimacy belies its later notoriety, followed an unusually circuitous path into American collecting. During World War II, it was transported to the United States for safekeeping, a precaution taken by many owners and dealers as Europe’s cultural heritage faced unprecedented danger. By the mid-1950s, the picture had reportedly been acquired by Huguette Clark, the heiress and daughter of copper magnate William A. Clark, who was known for buying significant artworks while remaining almost entirely out of public view.