Degas and the light

I am currently doing Geoffrey Dupree's 'From Drawing to Painting' course. For the last three days we have focused pretty solidly on tone, and how it indicates space. Most of us look at colour and shape all the time. I found that I rarely look at tone. And then I thought about the painting of Degas' that I saw at the French masters recently. It's just a small painting which is probably the first painting you look at when you enter the exhibition. I stood in front of it for a long time, just absorbing the light and the space he created with light, and the absence of light. And then ofcourse there's his flawless draughtsmanship. Need I say more. But with very little colour, he allows you to enter into his illuminated world of light and space. Magic.