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From 1870 Degas increasingly painted ballet subjects. First he painted a series of ballet rehearsal pictures. The Foyer of the Opera at Rue Le Peletier shows ten ballerinas being examined in the great hall. The white-clad Louis François Mérante, instructor at the opera house, is giving orders which the dancers have to follow. Those who are not busy exercising are watching the ballerina currently being examined with close attention. The work is organized around the polarity of group and single figure. The scene, remarkable for the rigour of its composition, has a distinctive energy centre in the vacant chair at the fore.
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