# Ballet at the Paris Opéra

**Edgar Degas** (French, 1834–1917)  
1877  
Pastel over monotype on cream laid paper  
Plate: 35.2 × 70.6 cm (13 7/8 × 27 13/16 in.); Sheet: 35.9 × 71.9 cm (14 3/16 × 28 5/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1981.12. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/61603).

## About this work

Ballerinas in tutus fill the stage of the Paris Opéra, watched from the darkened house. Degas began with a monotype, inking a plate and printing a single impression, and then worked over it in pastel, so that the dark printed base gives depth to the brilliant touches of colour on top. The unusual viewpoint, cutting into the scene as if glimpsed from a seat close by, owes something to Japanese prints and to photography, and it makes the spectator part of the picture.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Edgar Degas painted this in 1877, aged 43. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

Color pastel drawing of ballerinas in tutus on stage, watched by audience.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Pastel.** Sticks of almost pure pigment with very little binder. The colour sits on the paper as powder: bright, matte and fragile.
- **Laid paper.** Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.

### [Edgar Degas](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/edgar-degas)

French, 1834–1917; born in Paris; died in Paris

Degas trained in the academic tradition, admired Ingres and spent three years in Italy copying earlier art, but turned to modern Paris for his subjects: dancers, racecourses, laundresses, milliners and café singers. He helped organise the Impressionist exhibitions and showed in all but one, yet preferred to call himself a realist. Working from drawing and memory rather than outdoors, he composed with unexpected cropping and viewpoints, and in later years worked mostly in pastel as his eyesight failed.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Drawing and Watercolor
- Culture: France
- The artist was 43
- Real size: about 14 × 28 in (35 × 70 cm). The 20 × 30 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/impressionism)
- Subjects: dancers, leisure, work, women, Impressionism
- Colour: grey
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/178.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/178/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/ballet-at-the-paris-opera-aic-61603).