Degas’ Art and his Complex Relationship with Women

Exploring the art of Edgar Degas

The Dance Class (1874) by Edgar Degas. Oil on canvas. 83.5 x 77.2 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image source The Met (open access)

Edgar Degas painted young ballet dancers with an almost obsessive curiosity. Nearly half of his oil paintings and pastel works depict ballerinas at the corps de ballet at the Paris Opéra.

Many of the works focus on the backstage preparations: teaching classes, rehearsal and dressing room scenes. A…