The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage  1874

by Edgar Degas

There are three similar versions of this scene, and their precise relationship has bedeviled scholars for decades. The largest, painted in grisaille (Musée d’Orsay, Paris), appeared in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. The two others, tentatively dated the same year, are in the Metropolitan’s collection. This painting probably preceded the version in pastel (29.1...
Size: 
21 3/8 x 28 3/4 in. (54.3 x 73 cm)
Medium: 
Oil colors freely mixed with turpentine, with traces of watercolor and pastel over pen-and-ink drawing on cream-colored wove paper, laid down on bristol board and mounted on canvas
Credit: 
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art