Some would consider this image--of a woman leaning over a chair near a man seated at a table--a genre scene, or a scene of everyday life. Or perhaps Degas has painted a double portrait, nontraditional in the sense that the man and woman are physically distant from each other and seem emotionally apart as well.

The room may be a bank or some other kind of office. The table is covered with papers; the back shelf is filled with ledgers; and a print of a racing scene adorns the wall behind the two figures.

The manner in which Degas has cropped the image on the right creates an asymmetrical composition; we see only part of the shelf, ledgers, framed document, and table. In contrast, we find an expanse of wall and the almost complete figure of the woman on the left. The compositional devices of cropping and asymmetrical arrangement, as well as the gestures, poses, and facial expressions of the figures--all contribute to the enigmatic circumstances of this scene.

As is the case in many of Degas's works, this painting eludes precise categorization and interpretation. There has been much speculation as to what is going on in this setting. What is the relationship between the two people? Are they husband and wife? Father and daughter? Friends? And what is the nature of their relationship? Are they on good terms? Have they been interrupted in the midst of an argument? What are they doing? And what were they doing before the moment that Degas has captured?

These questions have no correct response. The particular narrative of this scene (if there even is one) remains a mystery. Although the woman has been identified as one of Degas's models and the man as the writer Duranty, Degas is clearly creating an imagined scenario. Typical of Degas is his deliberate evasion of a specific recognizable narrative content. Instead, the dynamic of the scene is palpable yet ambiguous.

What Degas has emphasized is the lack of communication between the two figures. We sense that the two people are not strangers by virtue of the woman's casual stance and the way she and the man seem to have turned away from one another as though they had just been speaking. The man's slumped posture and furrowed brow also express frustration or some other strong emotion. The two are isolated from each other both physically and psychologically. The absence of some sort of dialogue or closeness between them becomes the strongest presence in this image.