The Dance Foyer at the Opera on the rue Le Peletier

Edgar Degas

Oil on canvas

Musée d'Orsay

Le Foyer de la danse à l'Opéra de la rue Le Peletier (1872) depicts the rehearsal room of the Paris Opéra on the rue Le Peletier, where ballet master Louis-Alexandre Mérante, dressed in white and leaning on a cane, instructs a group of young dancers in various poses—some practicing at the barre, others waiting their turn or at rest, while a violinist accompanies the session. Degas renders the scene with characteristic compositional precision, using the warm ochre walls, parquet floor, and soft filtered light to create an atmosphere of disciplined daily routine behind the glamour of the stage. Edgar Degas (1834–1917), a French painter closely associated with Impressionism though he preferred the designation of Realist, made the ballet his most sustained subject, producing more works devoted to dance than any other theme across all media. This painting—one of the earliest and most refined in his long series of dance foyer scenes—entered the Musée d'Orsay through the bequest of Count Isaac de Camondo in 1911, where it remains part of the permanent collection.