Meanwhile

Degas’ death, the National Gallery has borrowed from the Burrell Collection in Glasgow to mount this inspiring display of paintings and pastels. Industrialist Sir William Burrell (1861-1958), who made his money in shipping, collected 23 works by Degas and regretted never having met the man whose oils and pastels he so admired. The Woman Looking Through Field Glasses was the first Degas he bought.

Drawn in Colour, curated with wit and insight by Julien Domercq, tackles three themes in three rooms: Modern Life, Dancers and Privacy Observed.

It is a Goldilocks show: just the right size, not so big you are flagging, nor so small that you leave unsatisfied. The Fitzwilliam Museum’s Degas: A Passion for Perfection (October3 to January 14, 2018), curated by Jane Munro — opening just too late for my deadline — is the more sweeping survey, giving us landscape, sculpture and a glass of green absinthe. There is great pleasure to be had in this autumn glut of bathers, drinkers and dancers. Could you ever be bored of Degas’ dancers, ever have seen too many tutus? No!

The Fitzwilliam catalogue trumps the National Gallery’s, so save your book shopping for Cambridge. See both exhibitions if you possibly can: a glorious Degas pas de deux.

At the National Gallery, we open with the spirit of Charles Baudelaire, whose essay The Painter of Modern Life (1863) called on artists to paint boulevards and bistros, café dandies