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The Ballet Class
Edgar Degas
A rehearsal-room scene reworked over three years, with a fragile, thinly painted surface.
- Artist
- Edgar Degas
- Date
- 1873–1876
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 85 × 75 cm
- Location
- Musée d'Orsay, Paris
History
What the record shows
Degas altered the composition repeatedly, and pentimenti are visible where figures were moved.
The thin paint film and absorbent ground make the canvas sensitive to vibration, so road transport is preferred over air for short movements.
Provenance
Chain of ownership
- 01Jean-Baptiste Faure collection, Paris, 1876
- 02Durand-Ruel, Paris
- 03Bequest of the Comte Isaac de Camondo, 1911
- 04Musée d'Orsay from 1986
