Edgar Degas depicts seven dancers performing in a ballet. The gestures of the women’s raised arms and feet capture the actions, forms, and poses of the corps de ballet (the ensemble, or chorus, of a ballet company that performs in groups). To heighten the sense of motion and spectacle, Degas smudged the edges of the forms where the dancers’ dresses meet the stage.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Pastel and essence over monotype on cream laid paper, laid down on board
Dimensions
59.2 × 42.8 cm (23 5/16 × 16 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Potter Palmer Collection
Reference Number
1922.423
IIIF Manifest
The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.
Sandra Grung, Supplement to Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1970), p. 27.
Harold Joachim and Sandra Haller Olsen, French Drawings and Sketchbooks of the Nineteenth Century 2 (Chicago, 1979), p. 41, no. 2F4.
Richard Brettell, French Impressionists (Chicago, 1987), p. 21, 23, 117 (ill.).
James L. Tyson, “Chicago’s Art Institute Turns an Anniversary Into a Reassessment,” The Christian Science Monitor (November 23, 1993), p. 14 (ill.).
Jean Sutherland Boggs, Degas (Chicago, 1996), pp. 31, 83 (ill.), and 108, pl. 12.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Potter Palmer,” May-August 1910, n.p., cat. 20.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “A Century of Progress,” June 1-November 1, 1933, p. 41, cat. 281.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “A Century of Progress,” June 1-November 1, 1934, p. 35, cat. 200.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Degas in The Art Institute of Chicago,” July 19-September 23, 1984, pp. 70-71, cat. 29 (ill.), cat. by Richard R. Brettell and Suzanne Folds McCullagh.
The Art Institute of Chicago, September 1996-January 1997.
New York, American Federation of Arts “Degas and the Dance,” 2002-2003, p. 163, cat. 179, cat. by Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall; shown in the Detroit Institute of Arts, October 18-Janaury 12, 2003.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Degas: At the Track, On the Stage”, July 1, 2015-February 26, 2016, no cat.
Durand-Ruel, Paris. Bertha Honoré Palmer (1850-1918), Chicago, by 1889 [according to museum records]; given to the Art Institute, 1922.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
