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The Dance Class

Edgar Degas, 1874. Paris, France.

You are here

Thirty works are on view at a time, ten to a room. Every day at midnight UTC, the ten that have hung longest go back into storage and ten others come out, so each work hangs for three days and then rests for three. A work always returns to the same place on the same wall.

Ballet dancers in white tutus stand and wait in a large green-walled practice room while an elderly ballet master with a staff watches one dancer pose.
Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0). Select it for the full size.

Degas returned again and again to the world of ballet, and he was more interested in rehearsals than in performances. Here, in a high-ceilinged practice room, an elderly ballet master leans on his tall staff while one dancer shows him a position. The others wait their turn. They stretch, fix their hair, adjust their sashes and talk among themselves, some barely paying attention. The floor runs back steeply toward the far wall, and the light comes from tall windows. Degas painted it from many sketches, and it feels like a real afternoon of work: a little tired, a little bored, and full of small, unguarded moments.

Look closely

  1. Find the ballet master. What is he looking at?
  2. Find someone who isn’t paying attention at all.
  3. Look at the bows and sashes. How many colors can you find?

While you sit

Class is in session, but it isn’t your turn yet. Wait with the dancers at the edge of the room.

Your seat in the galleries: a pale ash rehearsal-room bench with a soft rose cushion.

About the work

Title
The Dance Class
Artist
Edgar Degas
Date
1874
From
Paris, France
Medium
Oil on canvas
Size
32 7/8 x 30 3/8 in. (83.5 x 77.2 cm)
Rights
Public domain
Image
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)
Record
The museum's page for this work

The words on this page were written for the campus, not taken from the museum's label.

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