DEGAS, Edgar
(b. 1834, Paris, d. 1917, Paris)

Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage

1874
Pastel over pen-and-ink drawing on paper mounted on canvas, 53 x 72 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

There are three similar versions of this scene. The largest, painted in grisaille (Musée d'Orsay, Paris), appeared in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. The two others, tentatively dated the same year, are in the Metropolitan's collection. Both works were executed over an ink drawing on paper, an unusual practice for Degas.