The Dance Lesson

Edgar Degas

Oil on canvas

National Gallery of Art

The Dance Lesson (c. 1879) is an oil on canvas painting executed in Degas's distinctive horizontal, frieze-like format, depicting a rehearsal room populated by ballet dancers in various informal states of rest and activity. To the far left, an exhausted dancer drapes herself over a double bass, while at center a seated dancer in a pink jacket observes a colleague standing with her back turned, adjusting the sash of her dress; further right, a loosely painted cluster of dancers practice near a large window. Although the overall effect appears spontaneous and candid, the composition was meticulously orchestrated — Degas drew from preparatory notebook sketches and recycled figures from related drawings and paintings, reflecting the influence of Japanese prints in his off-center placement of figures and the tilted expanse of empty floor. As one of the leading figures associated with Impressionism, Degas brought to this subject his sustained commitment to depicting modern Parisian life through unconventional compositional strategies and keen observational precision.