La Classe de danse
Edgar Degas
(1834 -
1917)
Niveau supérieur,
Salle 31
Artwork location
Degas regularly went to the Paris opera house, not only as a member of the audience, but as a visitor backstage and in the dance studio, where he introduced by a friend who played in the orchestra. At that time, the opera was still housed in the rue Le Peletier and had not yet moved to the building designed by Garnier which was soon to replace it. From the 1870s until his death, Degas's favourite subjects were ballerinas at work, in rehearsal or at rest, and he tirelessly explored the theme with many variations in posture and gesture.
More than the stage performance and the limelight, it was the training and rehearsals that interested him. Here the class is coming to an end – the pupils are exhausted, they are stretching, twisting to scratch their backs, adjusting their hair or clothes, an earring, or a ribbon, paying little heed to the inflexible teacher, a portrait of Jules Perrot, a real-life ballet master.
Degas closely observed the most spontaneous, natural, ordinary gestures, the pauses when concentration is relaxed and the body slumps after the exhausting effort of practising and the implacable rigour of the class.
The slightly raised viewpoint looking diagonally across the studio accentuates the vanishing perspective of floor boards. Paul Valéry wrote: "Degas is one of the very few painters who gave the ground its true importance. He has some admirable floors". This is all the more appropriate for dancers in that the parquet, which was moistened to prevent slipping, is their main work tool. And the ballet master beats time on the floor with his baton.
More than the stage performance and the limelight, it was the training and rehearsals that interested him. Here the class is coming to an end – the pupils are exhausted, they are stretching, twisting to scratch their backs, adjusting their hair or clothes, an earring, or a ribbon, paying little heed to the inflexible teacher, a portrait of Jules Perrot, a real-life ballet master.
Degas closely observed the most spontaneous, natural, ordinary gestures, the pauses when concentration is relaxed and the body slumps after the exhausting effort of practising and the implacable rigour of the class.
The slightly raised viewpoint looking diagonally across the studio accentuates the vanishing perspective of floor boards. Paul Valéry wrote: "Degas is one of the very few painters who gave the ground its true importance. He has some admirable floors". This is all the more appropriate for dancers in that the parquet, which was moistened to prevent slipping, is their main work tool. And the ballet master beats time on the floor with his baton.
Artist(s)
Title(s)
titre principal : La Classe de danse
titre principal : La Classe de danse
Date
entre 1873 et 1876
Others accession number
Accession number
RF 1976
Description
huile sur toile
Dimensions
H. 85,5 ; L. 75,0 cm.
avec cadre H. 109,5 ; L. 99,3 cm
avec cadre H. 109,5 ; L. 99,3 cm
Designation
tableau
Inscription(s)
S.b.g. : Degas
Place of conservation
musée d'Orsay
- 1876, dans la collection Ch. W. Deschamps, Londres, livré par l'artiste
- de 1876 à 1889, dans la collection capitaine Henri Hill, Brighton
- 1889, Collection Hill, Londres, Christie's, 25 mai, n°27
- collection Goupil et Cie, Paris
- 1889, dans la collection Michel Manzi, Paris
- de 1894 à 1911, dans la collection du comte Isaac de Camondo, Paris
- 1911, accepté par l'Etat à titre de legs aux Musées nationaux du comte Isaac de Camondo pour le musée du Louvre (comité du 27/04/1911, conseil du 08/05/1911, arrêté du 23/11/1911)
- 1911, attribué au musée du Louvre, Paris
- de 1911 à 1947, musée du Louvre, Paris (exposé à partir de 1914)
- de 1947 à 1986, musée du Louvre, galerie du Jeu de Paume, Paris
- 1986, affecté au musée d'Orsay, Paris
Modality of acquisition
legs
Acquistion Date
1911
- Twelfth Exhibition of pictures by modern french artists - 168 New Bond Street - Royaume-Uni, Londres, 1876, n°127
- Third annual winter Exhibition of modern pictures - organisme inconnu - Royaume-Uni, Brighton, 1876, n°167
- Quelques chefs-d'oeuvre des maîtres contemporains - musée du Luxembourg - France, Paris, 1904, n°17
- Exposition Degas : peintures, pastels et dessins, sculptures, eaux-fortes, lithographies et monotypes - galerie Georges Petit - France, Paris, 1924
- Degas - musée de l'Orangerie - France, Paris, 1937
- Biennale di Venezia - organisme inconnu - Italie, Venise, 1948, n°64
- Degas - oeuvres du musée du Louvre : peintures, pastels, dessins, sculptures - musée de l'Orangerie - France, Paris, 1969
- Degas, the Dancers - National Gallery of Art - Etats-Unis, Washington, 1984-1985
- Degas - Galeries nationales du Grand Palais - France, Paris, 1988
- Théo Van Gogh. Kunsthandelaar, verzamelaar en broer van Vincent - Van Gogh Museum - Pays-Bas, Amsterdam, 1999
- Impressionism. Treasures from the National Collection of France - musée national de Chine - Chine, Pékin, 2004, n°16, repr.
- Impressionism. Treasures from the National Collection of France - Shanghai Museum of Art - Chine, Shanghai, 2004-2005, n°16, repr.
- Impressionism. Treasures from the National Collection of France - Hong Kong Museum of Art - Chine, Hong Kong, 2005, n°16, repr.
- Degas : The Uncontested Master - National Gallery of Australia - Australie, Canberra, 2008-2009
- Impresionismo : Un nuevo Renacimiento - Fundación Mapfre - Espagne, Madrid, 2010
- Birth of Impressionism. Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco - Etats-Unis, San Francisco, 2010
- Edgar Degas - Museum of Art - Japon, Yokohama, 2010
- Birth of Impressionism. Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay - Frist Center for Visual Arts - Etats-Unis, Nashville, 2010-2011
- Le ballet de l'Opéra.Trois siècles de suprématie depuis Louis XIV - bibliothèque-musée de l’Opéra - France, Paris, 2013, p.156
- Faces of Impressionism. Portraits from the Musée d'Orsay - Kimbell Art Museum - Etats-Unis, Fort Worth, 2014-2015
- Degas and the dance - Toledo Museum of Art - Etats-Unis, Toledo, 2015-2016, p. 28-29, n° 3, repr.
- Degas Danse Dessin. Hommage à Degas avec Paul Valéry - musée d'Orsay - France, Paris, 2017-2018
General bibliography
-
Jamot, Paul, La Collection Camondo au Musée du Louvre, les peintures et les dessins, Paris, La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1914, p.28, 34-35, reprod. pl. p.34
-
Lemoisne, Paul-André, Degas et son oeuvre, Paris, Arts et métiers graphiques, 1946, n°341
-
Bazin, Germain, Trésors de l'Impressionnisme au Louvre, Paris, Éditions d'art Somogy, 1958, p. 148, repr.
-
Minervino, Fiorella, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Degas, Paris, Flammarion, 1974, n°479
-
Rosenblum, Robert, Les Peintures du Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Nathan, 1989, p. 338
-
(dir.) Cogeval, Guy, Le Musée d'Orsay à 360 degrés, Paris, Skira ; Flammarion ; Musée d'Orsay, 2013, p. 142
Exposition catalog
-
Galeries Georges Petit, Exposition Degas au profit de la ligue franco-anglo-américaine contre le cancer, cat.exp. (Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 1924), Paris, Galeries Georges Petit (Paris), 1924, n° 46
-
Jamot, Paul (pref) ; Bouchot-Saupique, Jacqueline ; Delaroche-Vernet Henraux, Marie, Degas, cat. exp. (Paris, musée de l'Orangerie, de mars à avril 1937), Paris, musée de l’Orangerie, 1937, n° 21
-
Adhémar, Hélène (préf.) ; Parrot, André (préf.) ; Monnier, Geneviève ; Beaulieu, Michèle ; Olivier, Michèle, Degas, oeuvres du Musée du Louvre : Peintures, Pastels, Dessins, Sculptures, cat. exp. (Paris, musée de l'Orangerie, du 27 juin au 15 septembre 1969), Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1969, n° 25 (reprod.)
-
Shackelford, George T. M., Degas - The Dancers, cat. exp. (Washington, National Gallery of Art, du 22/11/1984 au 10/03/1985), Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1984, n° 10 (reprod.)
-
Sutherland Boggs, Jean ; Loyrette, Henri ; Pantazzi, Michael ; Tinterow, Gary, Degas, cat.exp. (Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 13 février-16 mai 1988, Ottawa, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, 16 juin-28 août 1988, New York, Metropolitan museum of art, 27 septembre 1988-8 janvier 1989), Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1988, n° 129 (reprod.)
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Blühm, Andreas ; Stolwijk, Chris ; Loyrette, Henri ; Nonne, Monique ; Thomson, Richard, Théo van Gogh (1857-1891) : marchand de tableaux, collectionneur, frère de Vincent, cat. exp. (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, du 24/06/1999 au 05/09/1999 ; Paris, musée d'Orsay, du 27/09/1999 au 09/01/2000), Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1999, n° 17 (reprod.)
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Kinsman, Jane ; Pantazzi, Michael, Degas : the uncontested master, cat. exp. (Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, du 12 décembre 2008 au 22 mars 2009), Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, 2008, n° 53
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Saunier, Philippe ; Numata, Hideko, Degas, cat. exp. (Yokohama, Museum of Art, du 18 septembre au 31 décembre 2010), Yokohama, Yokohama museum of art, 2010, n° 41
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Shackelford, George T. M. ; Rey, Xavier ; Cogeval, Guy ; Pludermacher, Isolde, Faces of impressionism : portraits from the Musée d’Orsay, cat. exp. (Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, du 19 octobre 2014 au 25 janvier 2015), Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, 2014, cat. 21, pp. 98-100 ; p. 99 (reprod. coul.) ; p. 108 ; p. 215 ; p. 265 (notes)
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Thomas-Maurin, Frédérique ; Delmas, Julie ; Boudon, Elise ; Bergeret-Gourbin, Anne-Marie ; Manœuvre, Laurent ; Pludermacher, Courbet et l’impressionnisme, cat. exp. (Ornans, Musée Gustave Courbet, du 9 juillet au 17 octobre 2016), Milan, Cinisello Balsamo, 2016, fig. 1, p. 85 (reprod. coul.)
Summary catalog
-
Compin, Isabelle ; Roquebert, Anne, Catalogue sommaire illustré des peintures du Musée du Louvre et du Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1986, vol.3, p.193
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Compin, Isabelle [coordination] ; Lacambre, Geneviève [coordination] ; Roquebert, Anne, Musée d'Orsay. Catalogue sommaire illustré des peintures, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1990, vol.1, p.144
Material and technique
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