The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage

Artist
Edgar Degas
Year
ca. 1874
Medium
Oil colors mixed with turpentine, watercolor and pastel over pen-and-ink drawing on paper, mounted on canvas
Dimensions
54.3 × 73 cm

Edgar Degas returned again and again to the ballet, and The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage, from about 1874, stands among the earliest of his major dance subjects. Working in a hybrid of oil, pastel, and drawing on paper, Degas captured the dancers of the Paris Opéra with the off-center compositions and casual poses that made his ballet imagery revolutionary in its own day.