Edgar Degas

impressionism

Edgar Degas Paintings 1834 - 1917 Painter,Sculptor, France, Impressionism

Ballet at the Paris Opera, 1877-1878

Pastel over monotype on paper

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

Figure Compositions

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OIL PAINTING: Ballet at the Paris Opera, 1877-1878
That almost half the paintings of Degas represent dancers, either on stage in ballets performed at the Paris opera or off stage in exercises, lessons, and rehearsals, is hardly surprising in view of the unique importance Degas attached to such subjects throughout his career.
Of course, Degas treated other subjects with equal brilliance and originality , drawing in his youth on stories from the Bible and classical literature and in his maturity on scenes of urban labor and pleasure that he witnessed in the offices, millinery shops, and laundries, the cafes, cafe-concerts, and theaters of nineteenth century Paris.