Tänzerinnen an der Ballettstange

Degas showed this at the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877, then gave it to the collector Henri Rouart, a schoolfriend, to replace an earlier picture he had borrowed back to rework and ruined. The watering can standing at the left is a rehearsal-room fixture. Water was sprinkled on the floor so that dancing would not raise dust. In 1912, when Rouart's collection was auctioned in Paris, Louisine Havemeyer paid about 478,000 francs for it, the highest price yet given for the work of a living painter. Degas was 78 and read about it. He is said to have compared himself to the horse that wins the Grand Prix and gets its ration of oats. The canvas reached the Metropolitan with the Havemeyer bequest in 1929.