Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
Three Ballet Dancers
by Edgar Degas
Artwork Details
Cite or Embed This Work
APA · MLA · Chicago1-click academic citation and embeddable “On View” museum badge for articles, syllabi, and research.
Edgar Degas captured three dancers in rehearsal or backstage preparation, their tutus forming white clouds of fabric. The composition shows his characteristic asymmetry and cropping, with figures caught in informal moments rather than posed elegance. Degas's pastels allowed vibrant color and spontaneous marks.
Ballet obsessed Degas throughout his career, offering endless opportunities to study movement and gesture. His dancers were working women, not romantic ideals. Now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
More by Edgar Degas
View all →
Also at Cleveland Museum of Art
View all →Sculpture
S
Sappho: Portrait of a Woman (Louise Colet)
James Pradier, 1825
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Sculpture
J
Janus Figure
, 1880
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Sculpture
S
Shrew
, -305
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Sculpture
P
Processional Mask of a Bodhisattva
, 1150
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Related Works
Works that share an artist, movement, museum, genre, palette or theme with Three Ballet Dancers.
- Same artist
- Same movement
Three Dancers
Edgar Degas
- Same artist
- Same movement
Ballet Dancers
Edgar Degas
- Same artist
- Same movement
Dancers in Pink
Edgar Degas
- Same movement
Olympia
Édouard Manet, 1863
- Same movement
Water Lilies
Claude Monet, 1906
- Same movement
The Child's Bath
Mary Cassatt, 1893
- Same movement
The Balcony
Édouard Manet, 1869
- Same movement
The Floor Scrapers
Gustave Caillebotte, 1875
- Same movement
Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1876
- Same movement
Two Sisters (On the Terrace)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881
- Same movement
Water Lilies
Claude Monet, 1906
- Same movement
The Fifer
Édouard Manet, 1866
About Three Ballet Dancers
This pastel is at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio. The museum has free admission and holds an excellent collection including Impressionist works.
Degas found ballet perfect for studying movement, light, and anatomy. The Paris Opera offered access to rehearsals where he could observe dancers as working women rather than romanticized performers.
Degas increasingly used pastel in his later career. The medium allowed vibrant colors and spontaneous marks that captured ballet's energy. His technical innovations with pastel influenced later artists.
Own Art Like This
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
Browse Collection