“In the Dance Studio,” a genre painting created by Edgar Degas around the year 1897, is part of the Impressionism movement and executed in pastel. The artwork is currently held in a private collection. The astute observation of everyday life, typical of genre painting, is evident in Degas’s depiction of ballerinas, which is a recurring theme in his body of work.
The artwork captures a candid moment inside a dance studio. At the center, a dancer adjusts her slipper, her attention fixed on her foot, embodying a moment of paused motion. She is flanked by two other figures—a dancer to the left holds an open fan, presenting a poised, yet relaxed posture, and to the right, a seated dancer slouches slightly, resting either in fatigue or contemplation. The dancers’ tutus fan out with a delicate, ethereal quality that is enhanced by Degas’s use of pastel, lending a softness to the fabric and movement.
The color palette is pale and harmonious, with warmth radiating from the orange hues of the fan and the wooden floor, contrasting subtly against the cool blues and whites of the tutus. The brushwork delivers an intimate ambiance, with visible strokes contributing to a sense of immediacy and spontaneity characteristic of Impressionist works. The floor and the back wall hint at the spatial depth of the studio, with vertical lines on the rear wall adding a dynamic texture. Degas’s skillful composition conveys not only the physicality of the dancers’ world but also captures the transient beauty of behind-the-scenes moments in the life of performers.
