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From 1872 on, Degas devoted most of his attention to ballerinas practicing under their master or rehearsing on stage, where occasionally gentlemen would be looking on and would afterwards express a wish to take one of the girls home with them.
The style of this painting resembles grisaille work. The non-colourful chiaroscuro is some kind of allusion to the new visual technique of photography. The man straddling the chair functions as an observer within the scene we observe; and we notice that not only the lighting but also the unaccustomed emptiness of the theatre makes an eerie impression.
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