Mademoiselle Dihau Playing the Piano

In 1869 Degas was spending his evenings among the musicians of Paris, and the Dihaus were one of the families he kept returning to. This is Marie Dihau, a pianist and singing teacher, seated at her keyboard with her head turned as if someone had just spoken to her. Her brother Desire played bassoon at the Paris Opera, and Degas would soon place him at the front of a whole orchestra in another canvas. Marie kept this small portrait on her own wall for decades. In 1923 the French state bought it from her, on the condition that she could hold onto it until she died, which she did, in 1935, at 91.