The Dance Class
Girls in white tutus scattered around a rehearsal room, an old ballet master with a cane at the center: a key work among Degas's lifelong ballet-class scenes. Full commentary ↓
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The Dance Class is an oil painting by Edgar Degas (1874) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 83.5 × 77.2 cm.
In the pictureIn a high-ceilinged rehearsal room, more than twenty girls in white tutus and colored ribbons are scattered about. In the middle, a white-haired old man stands leaning on a long cane, watching one girl's movements, while girls in the foreground scratch their backs or fiddle with their ribbons, paying no attention. A mirror and a poster are on the right wall, and a watering can stands at the lower left. The floorboards create depth in the picture.
BackgroundIt dates from around 1874, and the teacher is Jules Perrot, the legendary choreographer of the Paris Opéra at the time. Degas was more interested in rehearsal rooms and waiting rooms than in the stage, that is, in the moments when dancers are not acting like dancers. In this picture too, only one person is dancing, and the rest are waiting and bored. The watering can was used to sprinkle water on the floor to keep it from being slippery.
Puzzle tipThere are many white tutu pieces, but the ribbon colors (red, blue, green, yellow) differ from girl to girl, which tells them apart. Start with the teacher, the girls in the foreground, the mirror and the poster, and place the floorboards by the slant of their lines. Leave the green wall pieces for last to fill the gaps.
- Artist
- French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 83.5 x 77.2 cm
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham, 1986
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
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