Yours
In a dance studio, two ballerinas wearing knee-length tutus and ballet slippers sit on a bench and stretch to our right while four more pose at the back of the space, to our left, in this long, horizontal painting. The scene and dancers are loosely painted so many features are indistinct. All the women have light skin and dark brown hair. Each pale, robins’ egg-blue costume has a low-cut, tightly fitting, sleeveless bodice and a full skirt. Dabs of off white, teal, and blue suggest flowers lining the deep U of the neckline at the front and down the back of each bodice. Closest to us and…
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Before the Ballet

Edgar Degas (French, 1834 - 1917)

1890/1892

Medium
oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 40 x 88.9 cm (15 3/4 x 35 in.) ; framed: 59.7 x 109.8 x 8.2 cm (23 1/2 x 43 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
Culture
French
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CF
Credit line
Widener Collection
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art

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