Fine Art Poster
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A giclée print on 200gsm matte fine art paper, using a twelve-colour process for accurate, fade-resistant colour. Supplied unframed, delivered flat or rolled.
The Dancing Class - Edgar Degas
Regular price
£28.00 GBP
Sale price
£28.00 GBP
Regular price
Archival giclée
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Made to order
Description
A study of ballet dancers during a rehearsal, captured with the characteristic observation and muted tones of Edgar Degas.
Edgar Degas produced this work during the early 1870s, a period when he began to focus on the daily routines of ballet dancers at the Paris Opera. The composition captures a rehearsal in progress, rather than a formal performance. A violinist sits at a piano, providing music for the dancers who occupy various states of movement and rest. One dancer stands in the centre, her posture suggesting a pause in her practice, while others adjust their attire or lean against the walls.
Degas employs a muted palette of ochre, brown, and soft white to render the interior of the studio. The light enters from an unseen source, casting soft shadows across the floorboards and illuminating the tulle of the dancers' skirts. The inclusion of a large mirror adds a layer of spatial complexity, reflecting the figures and expanding the perceived depth of the room. This technique allows the viewer to observe the scene from multiple angles simultaneously.
The artist avoids the idealised depictions of ballet common in the nineteenth century. Instead, he presents the physical exertion and mundane reality of the dancers' lives. The figures appear naturalistic, with poses that feel spontaneous and unposed. The brushwork remains controlled, allowing for precise details in the dancers' features and the wooden furniture. This work provides a glimpse into the technical rigour required by the ballet, stripped of the glamour associated with the stage. It remains a representative example of how Degas observed modern life through a lens of detachment and analytical precision.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
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- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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The Dancing Class - Edgar Degas
Regular price
From £28.00 GBP
Sale price
From £28.00 GBP
Regular price
Fine Art Poster / A4 (21x29.7 cm) / -
Artist Biography
Edgar Degas
Degas changed the spelling of his own name. He was born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, into a Parisian banking family, and dropped the aristocratic particle to become simply Degas. His father wanted him to study law. He enrolled in law school, then quietly registered as a copyist at the Louvre instead.
More than half of his entire output depicts dancers. He became a fixture at the Paris Opera, watching from the wings and from boxes above the stage, sketching not the performance but the work behind it: the stretching, the waiting, the adjusting of shoes, the corrections from the ballet master. The backstage fatigue interested him more than the applause.
In 1881, he exhibited Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, a two-thirds life-size wax figure of Marie van Goethem, a real student at the Opera ballet school. She wore a real tutu, real ballet slippers, and a wig of human hair, all coated in wax. Critics called it repulsive. One described the girl as having a face marked by the hateful promise of every vice. Wax was a material for anatomical specimens, not art. It was the only sculpture he exhibited in his lifetime. After his death, 150 more wax figures were found in his studio, many falling apart.
His eyesight began failing during the Franco-Prussian War. By his forties he had lost central vision. By fifty-seven he could not read. The deterioration drove him from fine brushwork to bolder strokes, then to pastels, then to sculpture he could work by touch. He avoided daylight and painted under controlled artificial light. Collectors joked they should chain their Degas paintings to the wall, because he would try to take them back to rework them. He compulsively revised everything.
He disliked being called an Impressionist. He preferred Realist or Independent. He never painted outdoors, which was supposedly the whole point of the movement. Despite this, he co-founded the group, organised their exhibitions, and showed in all eight. He said: there is love and there is art and we only have one heart. He never married.
More than half of his entire output depicts dancers. He became a fixture at the Paris Opera, watching from the wings and from boxes above the stage, sketching not the performance but the work behind it: the stretching, the waiting, the adjusting of shoes, the corrections from the ballet master. The backstage fatigue interested him more than the applause.
In 1881, he exhibited Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, a two-thirds life-size wax figure of Marie van Goethem, a real student at the Opera ballet school. She wore a real tutu, real ballet slippers, and a wig of human hair, all coated in wax. Critics called it repulsive. One described the girl as having a face marked by the hateful promise of every vice. Wax was a material for anatomical specimens, not art. It was the only sculpture he exhibited in his lifetime. After his death, 150 more wax figures were found in his studio, many falling apart.
His eyesight began failing during the Franco-Prussian War. By his forties he had lost central vision. By fifty-seven he could not read. The deterioration drove him from fine brushwork to bolder strokes, then to pastels, then to sculpture he could work by touch. He avoided daylight and painted under controlled artificial light. Collectors joked they should chain their Degas paintings to the wall, because he would try to take them back to rework them. He compulsively revised everything.
He disliked being called an Impressionist. He preferred Realist or Independent. He never painted outdoors, which was supposedly the whole point of the movement. Despite this, he co-founded the group, organised their exhibitions, and showed in all eight. He said: there is love and there is art and we only have one heart. He never married.
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The same fine art print in a solid wood frame with UV-protective acrylic glaze and rigid backing. Five frame colours. Arrives ready to hang.
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