The Ballet Class

Gallery 252, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Toll Gallery)

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The Ballet Class

1880-1881

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)

In this everyday scene from backstage at the Paris Opéra, a ballet instructor observes two young dancers while a mother sits reading in the foreground. Degas spent a great deal of time in the corridors and rehearsal rooms of the Opéra, where he would have seen mothers like this one managing their young daughters' careers. Girls began official ballet classes at age seven or eight in hopes of becoming premiere dancers by their late teens.

Gallery 252, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Toll Gallery)

Object Details

Title:

The Ballet Class

Date:

1880-1881

Artist:

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

32 3/8 × 30 1/4 inches (82.2 × 76.8 cm) Framed: 41 1/2 × 39 5/8 × 2 5/8 inches (105.4 × 100.6 × 6.7 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund, 1937

Accession Number:

W1937-2-1

Geography:

Made in France, Europe

Provenance

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Gallery 252, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Toll Gallery)

Main Building

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