On Saturday, I checked the Degas exhibit at the National Art Gallery here in Sofia. It was totally worth going.

Degas is a really incredible sculptor.

[caption id="attachment_3396" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Degas in Sofia! "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01961.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3396" title="Degas in Sofia! " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01961.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="666" /></a>[/caption]

I'm familiar with many of his impressionist paintings. The ballerina dancers--those girls in full skirts, point shoes and satin bows. Paintings in shades of white, green, yellow and blue. I knew the sculpture <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Petite_Danseuse_de_Quatorze_Ans" target="_blank">"La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans"</a> (Little Dancer of Fourteen Years) but many of the other sculptures were new to me. <!--more-->

The sense of moment in the female sculptures is really beautiful and for being cast out of bronze the sculptures are also incredibly graceful. Degas captures the lines of human body but also the imperfections. While many of his paintings seem ephemeral the sculpture is solid and physical but notably still playful and light. There's a sense of balance in these pieces.

In comparison, I found the horse sculptures much less interesting. They look like bronze horses. Then again, I've never been much of a horse girl. But they do provide an certain contrast to the female sculptures.

So, if you're thinking about going and can check out the exhibit on a weekday, I think it would probably be smart. Saturday it was really crowded.  Often you had to wait your turn to really look at a sculpture. I mean if you're happy peering over someone's shoulder to glimpse the sculptures then that's a different story.  You can check out the exhibit whenever you want to. But for everyone else I'd recommend a weekday or trying to hit the gallery when it opens.

The other thing that could have really improved the exhibit would have been spacing out the sculptures more.  In fact, I think that many of the sculptures were too close together. The feeling was a little claustrophobic in a couple of places. I realize that the space for the exhibit is what it is.  Given the space the gallery was working with, the Degas pieces are displayed as well as can be.

My big complaint? The collection is only labeled in Bulgarian and French.  <em>Ug. </em>The problem with this is that my Bulgarian isn't very good and neither is my French. Luckily, I know my body parts in Bulgarian and I can make out enough "dancers-French" that I never felt too lost.  But <em>really</em>? There was no one who could translate the names of each piece into English?  Apparently not. I mean, it's not the end of the world but it's things like this that sometimes makes Bulgaria seem inaccessible to foreigners.

The good news? The sculptures speak for themselves. You don't really need to know the names of the pieces. Unless, you'd like to tell your MoM, your friends or your blog readers your favorite one and you can't. Sorry.