Ballet Scene: A Dancer at the Edge of the Stage

Degas Ballet Scene: Introduction

A dancer in a dark green skirt fills the foreground. She turns away, raising both hands to her head. Deeper in the scene, pale pink figures move through a warm, crowded setting. This is Edgar Degas's Ballet Scene (Scène de ballet), Schulman MS452 / Lemoisne III-843. The specialist catalogue dates this oil on canvas to about 1885, measures it at 59 × 49 cm, and lists it in a private collection. ^{[1] [3]}

Some secondary image listings date a similarly titled scene to about 1893. The specialist catalogue connects this composition to Sotheby's London, 24 June 1997, lot 4, and identifies it as MS452. Its object details, date and medium distinguish it from other Degas works called Scène de ballet. ^[1][2]

The work at a glance

• ArtistEdgar Degas (1834–1917)
• Specialist titleScène de ballet / Ballet Scene
• Datec.1885
• Medium and supportOil on canvas
• Dimensions59 × 49 cm
• LocationPrivate collection in the specialist catalogue
• Catalogue referencesSchulman MS452; Lemoisne III-843

Contents

1. Introduction
2. At a Glance
3. Foreground and distance
4. Colour and movement
5. The recorded history
6. Looking again

Foreground and distance

The nearest dancer is almost within reach. We see the back of her head, her shoulders and the full breadth of a dark green tutu. Her bent arms frame the face that is hidden from us. She might be fixing her hair or headpiece, or preparing to move; the picture does not provide enough detail to name the action with certainty. Degas makes that partial, turned-away figure the viewer's entry to the scene. ^[1]

The dancers behind her are much smaller and lighter. Their pink costumes and pale limbs pick up colour in the orange and rose background. The nearest dancer's dark green dress therefore works like a frame: it marks our position near the wings or the edge of a performance space, while the others recede into the brighter area. The exact setting is not identified in the catalogue, so “edge of the stage” describes the visual effect rather than a documented location. ^[1]

The right edge of the painting is especially compressed. A dark, roughly shaped form enters at the lower corner, while an irregular band of green and gold climbs beside it. Neither is explained by the object record. Together with the close foreground figure, they prevent an uninterrupted view of the distant dancers. We must look around obstructions, as if seeing an event from a particular place rather than a formally cleared stage front. ^[1]

Colour and movement

The green tutu contains blue, violet and grey marks as well as green. Its broad shape is crossed by quick strokes that suggest the layered fabric without describing every fold. The foreground dancer's pale arms stand sharply against it. Behind her, the farther dancers are rendered with a looser touch; limbs and costumes seem to flicker in the warm light. ^[1]

The painting creates movement by setting different kinds of gesture against one another. The nearer dancer folds her arms inward toward her head. Farther back, arms and legs extend outward. That opposition sends the eye from the tight foreground pose into the open activity beyond. It does not prove that the figures share a particular choreographed step or ballet. ^[1]

Degas also refuses a simple centre. The prominent green dancer sits left of centre, while the brighter figures gather to the right and back. A heavy reddish vertical at left and the mottled right-hand edge hold the view together. The warm middle distance between them feels active precisely because it is partly blocked. ^[1]

Watch: Edgar Degas

Explore his paintings, drawings and sculpture in three short videos.

Degas, The Dance Class

Smarthistory

Look closely at Degas’s off-duty dancers and his unusual view into the rehearsal room.

Watch on YouTube

▶01 · PaintingThe Dance ClassSmarthistory▶02 · DrawingDrawing movementThe Met▶03 · SculptureConserving DegasThe Met

The recorded history

The specialist catalogue records the canvas in Degas's studio and the second studio sale of 1918, lot 38. Its later chain includes Jules Strauss in Paris, a 1932 Strauss sale, owners in Lausanne and Zurich, a Christie's London sale in 1981, and Sotheby's London, 24 June 1997, lot 4. It lists a private collection in Lausanne after that sale. The catalogue does not identify the present owner by name. ^[1]

The work has also appeared in exhibitions in Columbus, Basel, Bern, Edinburgh, Lausanne, Paris, Japan, Detroit and Philadelphia. Those records help distinguish the canvas from the many other works Degas made of dancers on or near a stage. In particular, the catalogue connects this exact image to Lemoisne III-843; the title alone could not do that. ^[1]

The catalogue notes a studio-sale stamp at the lower right rather than a painted signature. A mark in the reproduced image should therefore not be described as Degas signing the work when he made it. ^[1]

Looking again

Start with the near dancer's hands, then follow the sweep of her green skirt to the smaller pink figures beyond. The strongest effect is the change of scale and access. Degas brings us close to one dancer but lets the broader action remain partly screened, turning a busy scene into a study of how a viewer catches sight of performance. ^[1]

References

1. Michel Schulman, digital Degas catalogue raisonné, Scène de ballet, MS452, exact image, c.1885 date, oil on canvas, 59 × 49 cm, private collection, Lemoisne III-843, history and exhibitions; checked 27 September 2026. View source
2. Wikimedia Commons, Ballet Scene, circa 1893, exact composition but less supported date and source chain; used only for identity comparison; checked 27 September 2026. View source
3. Splash image: Edgar Degas, Ballet Scene / Scène de ballet, circa 1885, oil on canvas. Private collection, Schulman MS452; Lemoisne III-843. Collection record. View source

Related DEGAS Paintings

Dance Class

The Ballet from Robert le Diable

Orchestra Musicians

The Millinery Shop

On the Racecourse

Dancers Backstage

A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers

Portrait of James Tissot