Image: public domain, courtesy of Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Four Dancers

Edgar Degas, c. 1899

Four ballerinas in orange bodices adjust their shoulder straps, as if about to step onto the stage. Degas painted ballet dancers again and again throughout his long career.

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Did you know?

It is a big canvas, about 1.5 metres high and 1.8 metres wide.
Some experts think it may show one dancer in four poses, like frames from a film.
Look behind the dancers: dark trees, a green meadow and a pink and golden sky, perhaps stage scenery.
Degas kept it in his studio until his death; it was sold at the auction of his studio in Paris in 1918.
Look for the red name “Degas” in the lower right corner, a studio stamp added for that sale.
The American collector Chester Dale bought it in 1931 and left it to the National Gallery in 1963.

About the artist

Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was born in Paris and spent nearly all his working life there.

Although he exhibited with the Impressionists, he preferred to call himself a realist; he is best known for his ballet dancers, in paintings, pastels and the sculpture Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.

He adored music and the theater, and as a season subscriber to the Paris Opera he could slip backstage to watch the dancers rehearse and rest.

Edgar Degas ›

Where it is today: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington · Museum page