Room 9 · The Dance Class

The story of this room

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The roar of the sea fades. In here you can almost hear floorboards creak. We are in a ballet rehearsal room with pale green walls. Leo tiptoes in and holds his notebook up to his mouth. Class is in session, he whispers.

First, find the white-haired man on the right, leaning on a tall stick. He wears a light gray suit with a red shirt underneath. He is identified as Jules Perrot, a well-known ballet master. In front of him, a dancer lifts one arm high and holds her pose. His eyes are on her.

Now move down to the lower left. A big double bass leans at an angle, and near the floor beside it you can read the signature, Degas. The dancer standing in front of it has her head bowed low. She has a red flower in her hair and a black ribbon around her neck. Is she waiting her turn, or just tired?

Next, look to the far back on the right. A few women in dark street clothes, one in a hat, stand watching the class. On the wall hangs a large mirror. In it you can see the sky and rooftops outside a window, along with the reflections of dancers. One room, many layers of looking.

Edgar Degas painted this in 1874. That spring in Paris, a group of artists held the exhibition later known as the first Impressionist show, and Degas exhibited in it. But while many of his friends painted sunlight outdoors, Degas preferred theaters and rehearsal rooms. Over his lifetime he painted, drew, and sculpted ballet dancers again and again.

Leo opens his notebook and sketches the line of a dancer's foot. There is no glittering performance in this picture, he says. There is waiting, fixing a costume, sitting on the floor to rest. Degas painted the long stretch of time before any applause.

The next room takes us back outside. Crowds are spending a Sunday afternoon in a riverside park, and when you get close, every one of them turns into tiny dots.

5 places to look closer

Look at the old man on the right, leaning on a tall stick. His gray suit makes his red shirt stand out. He is known to be Jules Perrot, a famous ballet master. With both hands stacked on the top of his stick, he looks toward the dancers on the left.

Zoom in on the head of the dancer in the front center. She wears a red flower and a pink flower in her hair, and a round pendant on a black ribbon at her throat. Her head is bowed as she smooths her skirt. She is not looking at the teacher at all.

On the wall at the upper left hangs a yellow poster with heavy black letters. A dancer's head hides half of it, so you can read only the first letters, starting G and U. The poster has been read as an advertisement for Rossini's opera Guillaume Tell. Even on the rehearsal room wall, the Opera's shows are on display.

Zoom into the raised area at the back right. Grown women in hats and shawls stand among the dancers. They are usually read as the dancers' mothers, who came along to class. In front of them, girls rest with hands on their hips or lean on each other.

Look at the bottom left corner. The scroll of a large stringed instrument lies near the floor, and beside it is the signature, Degas. Just behind it is a dancer's foot in a shoe with a pink trim. Instruments and dancing feet are all mixed together, just like in a real practice room.