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The dancers in Degas’s painting are clouded in a mist of tulle, but two striking heads of red hair seem to anchor the blurred forms moving in space. Arms and legs curve and stretch, delicate white skirts toss and sway. The white tutus depicted here are the practice dress worn by the younger dancers at the Paris Opéra in the late nineteenth century. Since they were small children, the dancers would have trained daily in the steps and positions that are the vocabulary of classical ballet, performing them over and over again. Degas repeats these characteristic movements in many of his pictures, perhaps not entirely for aesthetic reasons: repetition is exactly what the dancers do. This also seems connected to his own committed work ethic – he practised his craft tirelessly, making countless preparatory studies for every painting.
Title
Ballet Dancers
Date
about 1890-1900
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 72.5 x W 73 cm
Accession number
NG4168
Acquisition method
Bought, 1926
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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