The Dance Lesson by Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas, Dancers in the Rehearsal Room with a Double Base (Danseuses au foyer), c. 1885, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929, The H. O. Havemeyer Collection (29.100.127), © 1980, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Edgar Degas, The Dance Lesson, c. 1879, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon 1995.47.6

Degas used the same figures again and again, almost as if they were movable mannequins to be arranged on the canvas. In his sketches and paintings, you will see dancers in very similar poses but placed in slightly different settings or locations.

Click on each painting to find the seated dancer.