Woman with Chrysanthemums / Madame Valpincon with Chrysanthemums

Degas was heavily influenced by Japanese prints as well as by photography.  He departed from the traditional balanced arrangement in paintings and experimented with and introduced the idea of off-centered objects, and the appearance of accidental cut-offs, along with unusual visual angles and asymmetrical compositions all giving the appearance of a lack of planning yet on the contrary all quite carefully planned and arranged. 

Woman with Chrysanthemums is an example of one of Degas’ famous works in which he has effected the balance of the painting.  The female subject in the painting is pushed off into the corner of the canvas by the large centrally located bouquet of flowers.