The Ballet

Edgar Degas

National Gallery of Art

A man wearing a black suit stands in the middle of a line of five ballerinas on a stage in this vertical pastel drawing. The dancer closest to us is cut off by the right edge of the sheet, and the line of dancers angles away from us to our left. The ballerinas’ white costumes have off-the-shoulder bodices and knee-length tutus. Black ribbons encircle their necks and wrists, and their tights and slippers are bright, carnation pink. Pink and white flowers adorn their hair and dresses. The man in black is balding and has a dark goatee. He stands next to the dancer closest to us. Three dancers on his far side seem to stand casually in the wings of the stage, their feet outturned. The final dancer, farther from us, is bright in the stage lights. The floor is ash-gray, and the backdrop is drawn loosely with visible strokes in pine green, ochre yellow, lapis and ice blue. A narrow margin lines the edges of the tan paper. The artist signed the lower left corner, “Degas.”