1. Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame, or, Absinth blurs my thoughts, I think we should be moving on (2009), The Ekard Collection

Since 2008, British artist Ryan Gander has been working on a conceptual series in which he reinterprets Edgar Degas' world-famous fourteen-year-old dancer and place places her in a contemporary context. Gander always presents the ballerina sculptures with a white plinth and bright blue cube. For Gander, blue is the colour that symbolises abstract ideas, as often found in modern and contemporary art. Think of Henri Matisse's Blue Nudes and Yves Klein's monochrome paintings in ultramarine blue. The white plinth is a reference to the important institutions in the art world, such as museums. 

The poetic and narrative titles of Gander's works take you into scenarios and situations that Degas' fourteen-year-old dancer might experience in the twenty-first century.

In Come up on different streets, they both were streets, or, Absinth blurs my thoughts, I think we should be moving on (2009), Ryan Gander invites the viewer into a game of association and interpretation. The first part of the title, taken from a Dire Straits lyric, suggests a meeting of different paths or perspectives that are ultimately connected. The dancer, standing on her toes gazes curiously out the window toward the terrace. as if, from the wings of a theatre, she is observing the viewer and longing to be part of the scene.

7. Local and global reaching out, or, And sailed back over a year, And in and out of weeks, And through a day (2017), Haidas Collection

In this exhibition, you are invited to be part of a choreography where past and present converge. It’s almost as if you find yourself in a dreamlike world, where the familiar forms of reality blur and a sense of wonder emerges - similar to Alice in Wonderland, where everything moves and changes, yet somehow still feels real. For instance, in the work Local and global reaching out, or, And sailed back over a year, And in and out of weeks, And through a day (2017), the ballerina crawls out of a small white plinth set up inside a large white plinth. The size of the plinth invites you to become part of the artwork yourself.

Ryan Gander joked about this in a 2017 interview: "She is crawling out of the pedestal that represents the institution of art. She has freed herself. But what is she hiding from? Probably all the terrible contemporary art"

The title of the work is a fragment of a quote from the book “Where the Wild Things Are” by American children's author Maurice Sendak:

“And [he] sailed back over a year
and in and out of weeks
and through a day
and into the night of his very own room
where he found his supper waiting for him
and it was still hot”

8. Epiphany…learnt through hardship (2012), ADL Collection

The work Epiphany...learnt through hardship (2012) depicts a ballerina seated, legs drawn up and her head resting on her knees. Here the theatrical tension and stage-like posture of Degas' original dancer disappears completely. The girl appears introverted, vulnerable seemingly absent. Moreover, she adopts the same pose as the model in the famous photograph Nude (1936) by Edward Weston (1886 - 1958), pioneer of modern photography. 

9. As old as time itself, slept alone (2016), Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London.

Gander's use of repetition and occasional subtle shifts in pose, brings a contemporary interpretation of Degas' sculpture. Moreover, by freeing the dancer from her original role as object of the (male) gaze, he gives her a voice of her own. A compelling example of this is the work As old as time itself, slept alone (2016). In this sculpture, the girl lies in a quiet pose with her eyes closed, as if she is asleep. The physical fragility of her young body contrasts with the massive, bright blue cube beside her. In this composition, the girl does not appear to want to be looked at, but rather, while dreaming, she seems to withdraw from her surroundings. In doing so, Gander reverses the historical power dynamic of Degas' sculpture: from object of the gaze to subject in reflection.

16. Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, 1880-1881 (1922), Edgar Degas. Bronze and textile. Collection Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen 

Who doesn't know her? The fourteen-year-old dancer who appears slightly bored, head tilted back, hands held behind her back, waiting for directions from the choreographer or a scolding from the dance teacher. With its height of 98 centimetres, the sculpture is executed at about two-thirds the size of the model, 14-year-old Marie-Geneviève van Goethem (1865-after 1922) who was training to become a ballet dancer at the Paris Opéra when she posed for it. The dancer is strikingly larger than other Degas’ sculptures, which are usually smaller studies of dancers, horses or bathing women. Petite danseuse de quatorze ans is the only sculpture Degas ever exhibited and caused a sensation among visitors and press during the Impressionists' sixth exhibition. Its realistic depiction of a young ballerina wearing a wig of real hair, a tutu and ballet slippers blurred the boundaries between art and reality.

Degas is known for his many depictions of ballet dancers. Although these may at first seem somewhat sentimental to the contemporary viewer, because of the airy tutus and the colourful, impressionistic execution in pastel or oil, they align with the realist focus of his oeuvre. Think of the horse races depicted by Degas, tired washerwomen, drunk figures in cafés, and the dancers of the Paris Opéra, which in the late nineteenth century did not exactly enjoy a spotless reputation. The dancers came often of humble origins and were under pressure to please the wealthy male visitors. They were associated with prostitution were derogatorily referred to as “rats”. Degas captured not so much the ballet performances, but rather the waiting dancers in the wings, dancers doing exercises or putting on pointe shoes, appearing tired or bored, and attending lessons in the ballet studio.

17. You walk into a space, any space, or, Poor little girl beaten by the game (2010), Zabludowicz Collection

With a combination of subtle humour, play and narrative, Ryan Gander invites the spectator to look actively and engage in interpretation. In You walk into a space, Or poor little girl beaten by the game (2010), Gander plays with the boundaries between fiction and reality, between object and story. The work evokes a scene from an unfamiliar performance to us in which colourful objects in geometric shapes play the leading role.

It is typical of Gander not to present meaning explicitly, but to leave it open to the imagination. The title itself is also a play on perspective and emotion: who is the girl? What game has been played? And what is our role as spectators? Gander doesn’t provide answers but opens up worlds – between the lines, within the space, and through our own interpretation.

18. I don’t blame you, or, When we made love you used to cry and I love you like the stars above and I’ll love you ‘till I die (2008), Burger Collection, Hong Kong

In the work I don't blame you, or, When we made love you used to cry and I love you like the stars above and I'll love you till I die (2018), Gander once again shifts the perspective of the ballerina. He depicts the girl sitting down with a cigarette in her hand. Her relaxed pose feels almost meditative, as if she is consciously withdrawing from the spectacle that once defined her existence. This 2008 work is the first in the series of ballerina sculptures.

21. Waiting for timefall, or, Living in a time where everything is possible, but nothing can happen (2025), Collectie museum Beelden aan Zee, Den Haag

In Gander's most recent work, Waiting for Timefall (2025), the ballerina is no longer the sole object of reflection; she is integrated into a wider, almost cosmic perspective. The work depicts the ballerina against the backdrop of a large blue plane, in a moment of stillness, as if she is waiting for something beyond her reach  - alluding to the idea of “waiting” as an active state of being. The image evokes the tension between the desire to control the concept of time and its inevitable passage.

Bringing Gander's ballerina sculptures together in an exhibition reveals how his series has evolved into a visual novel over a fifteen-year period: each work is a scene, a moment or a memory from a life that does not fit into one time or space. As a result, the ballerina is no longer an icon, but a human figure with insecurities, doubts, and dreams that are universally recognisable.