Edgar Degas’ Ballet Dancers

Beyond Centre Stage

By Anik Waldeck

Art historian Anik Waldeck examines Edgar Degas beloved ballerinas beyond centre stage.

Edgar Degas, The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage, c.1874. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Born in 1834, the French artist Edgar Degas is often categorized and remembered as an Impressionist. Although he shared many of their techniques and subject matter—scenes of contemporary life, the theatre and Parisian cafés—he rejected the label ‘Impressionist’ and instead called himself an ‘Independent’.

Degas’s academic training gave him an inclination towards Realism and a great appreciation of the human figure. Looking for novel ways to portray the human form, particularly in motion, Degas was drawn to ballerinas as his ideal, modern models of study.

One might expect Degas’s seemingly countless images of this theme to focus primarily on the diaphanous tutus and graceful arabesques of pretty ballerinas as they flit across the stage. Closer observation, however, reveals that his interest lay elsewhere. Instead of repeatedly depicting the glitz and glamour of a full-dress performance, the artist became fascinated with what happens behind the scenes.

The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art perfectly encapsulates Degas’s approach to a subject that would occupy him for over 40 years.

While we see dancers in the middleground of the New York painting who are elegantly posed or nimbly making their way across the stage on the points of their toes, have a look at what is happening in the foreground. Several ballerinas stand to the far left awaiting their turn, one of whom reaches up as if using a piece of set decoration to support herself, perhaps while stretching. Slightly to the right of them, a dancer leans forward to adjust her shoe while another raises her arms as she yawns. On the floor at the front sits a dancer who reaches behind to scratch her back.

From this one painting alone, we begin to understand that movement for Degas was not only about the act of dancing itself, but also about the subtle gestures and poses of the ballerinas that occurred offstage while preparing, practicing or simply resting. Degas succinctly and effectively stripped away the illusion of the ballet to reveal its human side and to give a true representation of the resilience and hard work demanded of these young dancers.

Anik Waldeck is an art historian with a PhD from the University of Cambridge and over 20 years experience in the field. With her expertise and passion for the subject, she presents art and its history in a way that is easily accessible, approachable…and fun! Anik will soon be launching Academy of Art History, with masterclasses and courses to guide you through the fascinating world of art, expand your knowledge and inspire the budding connoisseur that exists in us all.