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

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

Edgar Degas, 1878–81

Degas made her from wax and dressed her in a real cotton and silk tutu, with real hair and a ribbon. It was the only sculpture he ever showed in public, at an exhibition in Paris in 1881.

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Did you know?

The model was Marie van Goethem, a pupil at the Paris Opera ballet school, daughter of a tailor and a laundress.
Young ballet pupils like her were nicknamed the little rats of the Opera.
Inside the wax, Degas used a metal frame, rope and even old paintbrushes to hold the figure up.
Look at her pose: arms stretched back, hands clasped behind her, chin raised high.
She is almost one metre tall and weighs about 22 kilograms.
After Degas died, about 150 wax figures were found in his studio, and 74 were later cast in bronze.

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