The Dance Class
by Edgar Degas, 1874
Artwork Details
Details
- Year
- 1874
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 83.5 cm × 77.2 cm (32.9 × 30.4 in)
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Edgar Degas painted the The Dance Class in 1874, showing ballet dancers practicing at the Paris Opera. The elderly ballet master Jules Perrot leans on his stick while young dancers stretch, adjust their costumes, and await their turn.
Degas cropped the composition unconventionally, cutting off figures at the frame's edge like a photograph. The pale tutus create a frothy mass against the brown floor. He painted over 1,500 works depicting dancers, capturing the physical labor behind artistic grace. It hangs at the Metropolitan Museum.
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About The Dance Class
Degas found dancers ideal subjects for studying the body in motion. The backstage world also appealed to his interest in showing labor and rehearsal rather than polished performance.
Jules Perrot was a famous ballet master who trained dancers at the Paris Opera. Degas included him in several paintings, using him as a compositional anchor.
Edgar Degas the pale tutus create a frothy mass against the brown floor. He painted over 1,500 works depicting dancers, capturing the physical labor behind artistic grace.
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