Darcey Bussell, 1994

In 1989 Darcey Bussell (b. 1969) became the youngest-ever principal dancer at the Royal Ballet, and went on to become the most highly acclaimed British ballerina of her generation. During her ballet career she performed all the major roles in the classical repertoire, with companies including the Kirov Ballet and New York City Ballet. She was named a Dame Commander of the Order of British Empire in 2018 for her services to dance.

For this commissioned portrait, Bussell posed over seven evenings at the artist’s studio, following rehearsals each day at the Royal Ballet. She admired the physicality of Allen Jones’ (b. 1937) depiction, and the sense that she was ‘going somewhere’. Bussell’s pose en pointe can be compared with Jones’ images of women wearing stiletto heels; the unnatural posing of the figure which occurs in both fascinated the artist. His use of simplified form and bold colour are characteristic of the Pop Art movement to which he was affiliated. The portrait’s distinct colour changes from yellow at the top to pink and violet at the bottom follow the Bauhaus colour wheel theory, which likens the colour spectrum ‘to the entire world’.

National Portrait Gallery, London. Commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, 1994
© National Portrait Gallery, London