Floor plan

Time and placeThe 19th century

The 19th century

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 nearly brushing the edges of the lower right corner of the canvas, one dancer sits on the end of a wooden bench and leans down between her legs, her feet widely planted. She rests her torso on an elbow folded onto one knee as she reaches for her left foot, farther from us, with her other hand. Her hair is pulled up and her face, looking downward, is deep in shadow. Sitting behind her on the bench, to our left, a second dancer lifts her right leg, toe pointing, as she pulls on her pale pink tights. Her other leg stretches straight, pointed toe brushing the floor, in front of her. This woman’s hair hangs loose around her shoulders. The pair is brightly lit from a source to our right, and an arched area of electric blue and mustard yellow behind them is difficult to interpret. The floor, which takes up about two-thirds of the composition, is painted with dabs of teal blue, pale fuchsia pink, and caramel brown. It leads us back to the upper left corner of the painting where four more four ballerinas stand in a line. The pair to our left stands with their backs to us, facing the wall with their right legs raised to shoulder height, toes pointed. The pair to our right faces us. They also stand with their right legs raised, creating a wide angle with their standing legs. All four ballerinas bend their arms gently at the elbow, and some tip their heads toward the raised legs. The rightmost dancer is illuminated by a pair of French doors at the back corner, at the top center of the painting. The wall behind the bench is streaked with mint green over honey brown, and the wall at the back of the room is leather brown. The visible, soft brushstrokes give the image a blurred, ethereal appearance in the dimmed studio. The artist signed the painting in the lower left corner, “Degas.”
The image shows two individuals seated outdoors near a body of water with their feet submerged. Both individuals are seen from head to toe. The person on the left is seated with a slightly hunched posture, reading a document or a book. They have a balding head, wear glasses, a dark suit with the coat draped over their knees, and a top hat placed on the ground. The individual on the right is sitting upright with a scarf over their hair. They wear a long dress with a shawl, and their hands rest on their lap. The background features a bare tree and a rough, sketched environment. The sky and landscape are depicted in shades of light and dark.
A work made of oil on canvas.
Senator Thomas Hart Benton, by Matthew Harris Jouett, 1820s
The Contest for the Bouquet: The Family of Robert Gordon in Their New York Dining-Room, by Seymour Joseph Guy, 1866
A work made of oil on panel.
A Picture by Hishikawa Moronobu: Woman with a Set of Poem Cards, by Totoya Hokkei, mid 1820s
A work made of oil on canvas.

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Works made in the 19th century, anywhere in the world.

Section 1, north wall

  1. 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 nearly brushing the edges of the lower right corner of the canvas, one dancer sits on the end of a wooden bench and leans down between her legs, her feet widely planted. She rests her torso on an elbow folded onto one knee as she reaches for her left foot, farther from us, with her other hand. Her hair is pulled up and her face, looking downward, is deep in shadow. Sitting behind her on the bench, to our left, a second dancer lifts her right leg, toe pointing, as she pulls on her pale pink tights. Her other leg stretches straight, pointed toe brushing the floor, in front of her. This woman’s hair hangs loose around her shoulders. The pair is brightly lit from a source to our right, and an arched area of electric blue and mustard yellow behind them is difficult to interpret. The floor, which takes up about two-thirds of the composition, is painted with dabs of teal blue, pale fuchsia pink, and caramel brown. It leads us back to the upper left corner of the painting where four more four ballerinas stand in a line. The pair to our left stands with their backs to us, facing the wall with their right legs raised to shoulder height, toes pointed. The pair to our right faces us. They also stand with their right legs raised, creating a wide angle with their standing legs. All four ballerinas bend their arms gently at the elbow, and some tip their heads toward the raised legs. The rightmost dancer is illuminated by a pair of French doors at the back corner, at the top center of the painting. The wall behind the bench is streaked with mint green over honey brown, and the wall at the back of the room is leather brown. The visible, soft brushstrokes give the image a blurred, ethereal appearance in the dimmed studio. The artist signed the painting in the lower left corner, “Degas.”
    Before the BalletEdgar Degas, 1890/1892Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. The image shows two individuals seated outdoors near a body of water with their feet submerged. Both individuals are seen from head to toe. The person on the left is seated with a slightly hunched posture, reading a document or a book. They have a balding head, wear glasses, a dark suit with the coat draped over their knees, and a top hat placed on the ground. The individual on the right is sitting upright with a scarf over their hair. They wear a long dress with a shawl, and their hands rest on their lap. The background features a bare tree and a rough, sketched environment. The sky and landscape are depicted in shades of light and dark.
    Une lecture intéressante et rafraichissanteHonoré Daumier, 1854Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Watering Place at MarlyAlfred Sisley, 1875Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Senator Thomas Hart Benton, by Matthew Harris Jouett, 1820s
    Senator Thomas Hart BentonMatthew Harris Jouett, 1820sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Section 1, south wall

  1. The Contest for the Bouquet: The Family of Robert Gordon in Their New York Dining-Room, by Seymour Joseph Guy, 1866
    The Contest for the Bouquet: The Family of Robert Gordon in Their New York Dining-RoomSeymour Joseph Guy, 1866Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of oil on panel.
    Head of a Guillotined ManJean Louis André Théodore Géricault, 1818–19Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A Picture by Hishikawa Moronobu: Woman with a Set of Poem Cards, by Totoya Hokkei, mid 1820s
    A Picture by Hishikawa Moronobu: Woman with a Set of Poem CardsTotoya Hokkei, mid 1820sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Mrs. Potter PalmerAnders Zorn, 1893Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, south wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; oban triptych.
    Eight Modern Views of Famous Places in Tokyo of Great Japan (Dai Nippon Tokyo kaika meisho hakkei no zu)Utagawa Kunisada II (Kunimasa III, Toyokuni IV), 1875Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of color woodblock print.
    Procession of Russian Marching Band, from the Album of seven prints of Russian Army and Warship (Roshia seigi shashin kan), 1853Keiga, 1853Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull), by Thomas Eakins, 1871
    The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull)Thomas Eakins, 1871Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. Shown from the knees up, a young girl with pale skin, wearing a coral-peach dress, sits facing and looking at us in this loosely painted, vertical portrait. Her knees are angled slightly to our left, and her hands rest in her lap. She has a round face and smooth, lightly flushed cheeks. She has brown eyes under arched brows, a delicate, snub nose, and her rose-pink lips are closed. Her hair, which is painted with broad strokes of caramel brown and moss green, is parted on one side and pulled smoothly back, presumably tied behind her head. Tendrils fall over her shoulders. Her dress is gathered around her neck and tied with a bow at the back. The loose sleeves fall to just below her elbows, and the dress is belted around the waist. A curving swipe of canary-yellow paint could be a buckle at the front. The fabric of the dress is painted with long, visible strokes of shell and rose pink, butter yellow, and ivory white, and a few touches of sage green and periwinkle blue for shadows. She wears a ring on the middle finger of her right hand. The space around her is loosely painted with strokes of electric and cobalt blue, with unpainted canvas visible at some of the edges. To our left, over the girl's shoulder, a wooden bird cage holds an emerald-green parakeet. The bird is streaked with royal blue along its back, and the area around its hooked beak is apple red. The cage has a mint-green bow and ribbon along the top. The artist signed the painting in green on the lower right corner: “Berthe Morisot.”
    The Artist's Daughter with a ParakeetBerthe Morisot, 1890Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. The Kitchen of the Rôtisserie des Deux Paons, by Adolphe Monticelli, c. 1875–1881
    The Kitchen of the Rôtisserie des Deux PaonsAdolphe Monticelli, c. 1875–1881Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. A View of the Large New Room at Sakurai, by Utagawa Kunisada, early or mid 1830s
    A View of the Large New Room at SakuraiUtagawa Kunisada, early or mid 1830sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Section 3, north wall

  1. A FRENCH RESTORATION BEDROOM
    A French Restoration BedroomBouilhet, French, 1823Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  2. Radicofane, by Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, 1841
    RadicofaneMiner Kilbourne Kellogg, 1841Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum