#degas dancer

Happy birthday to Edgar Degas, who was born on this day in 1834. A painter, sculptor, and printmaker, he is considered to be one of the founders of Impressionism (though he personally rejected the term). In this everyday scene from backstage at the Paris Opéra, a ballet instructor observes two young dancers while a mother sits and reads. 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. See this painting and more by this artist in The Impressionist’s Eye open now through August 18. 

Best known as oil painters, the artists in the tight-knit group of Impressionists actually moved fluidly from one medium to another, supporting and inspiring one another. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see a broad range of Impressionist sculpture, painting, and works on paper shown together. "The Impressionist’s Eye" opens April 16. 

degas dancer spirit rock by Betsy Rose

 Exhibition: The Art of Pastel From Degas to Redon

Date: 15 September 2017 – 8 April 2018

Venue: Le Petit Palais 

The Dancing Class (detail), c. 1870. Oil on wood, 19.7 x 27 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Edgar Degas was closest to Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the Impressionist’s circle, for both favoured the animated Parisian life of their day as a motif in their paintings. Degas did…

Families pose, pretend, and play on Spectacular Sculpture tours this month. Discover works of art together in our galleries and sculpture garden, every Sunday in May at 11:00 a.m.

Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement

In February 1874, the French writer Edmond de Goncourt visited “a strange painter called Degas” in his studio. It proved a memorable occasion. Degas performed a kind of jig — a “choreographic sequence”, as Goncourt put it in his journal, based on the movements of ballerinas. The whole incident was “very amusing”, as Goncourt watched Degas “high on his points, his arms rounded, mixing the…

Edgar Degas, Petite Danseuse de 14 ans, entre 1921 et 1931, modèle entre 1865 et 1881. Statue en bronze avec patine aux diverses colorations, tutu en tulle, ruban de satin rose dans les cheveux, socle en bois. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

L’œuvre trône dans l’une des galeries du musée d’Orsay, dans une vitrine. Elle mesure environ un mètre de haut, et représente une jeune danseuse. Il s’agit bien entendu…