MUSEE ORSAY, Degas The Dancing Class
- Audio File length: 2.40
- Author: STEFANO ZUFFI E DAVIDE TORTORELLA
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Language: English / USA
Finally, welcome to the fascinating The Ballet Class by Edgar Degas: this is one of the artist's best known paintings on one of his favorite themes, ballerinas.
The canvas was painted between 1873 and 1876, right around the time that the first impressionist exhibition was held in the famous photographer Nadar's studio. As you can see, Degas chose to depict the moment when a ballerina is trying a new move while being carefully watched by her teacher Jules Perrot, the ballet master of the Paris Opera. The other students, arranged in a semicircle, are resting. The painter captures them in a wide variety of poses: some are stretching to relax their muscles, others are fixing an earring or adjusting their hair. In the foreground on the left, a young girl scratches her back while her friend watches the continuing rehearsal....