Probe auf der Bühne

In the spring of 1874 a group of painters who could not get into the official Salon rented a photographer's studio and mounted their own show. Critics coined the word Impressionist to mock it. Degas hung this canvas there. It is nearly colorless, worked in greys with paint thinned by turpentine until the stage looks drained and tired, which is the point. This is a rehearsal, not a performance, the dancers stretching and slouching and yawning while two of them run through the steps. He built the surface in oil, ink and pastel together, unusual for the time. Look for the neck of a double bass rising into the frame from the orchestra pit below, and the ballet master's chair pushed off to the side.