Ballet (The Star)

c. 1876–77

Pastel over monotype, 58.4 × 42 cm. Musée d'Orsay, Paris

A solo dancer leans forward on one leg at the front of the stage, while others wait among the scenery. Degas built the color in pastel over a monotype print.

Footlights strike the dancer from below, giving her face and arms a pale upward light. Degas studies modern artificial light here as closely as other Impressionists studied daylight.
Shown at the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877.
The stage floor seems to tilt up behind her, as if seen from a high box.
Gustave Caillebotte bought it after the 1877 show; it reached the French national collections through his bequest in 1896.

In Paris a leading solo dancer was called a star (étoile). She stood above the many dancers who performed in groups.

monotype: A one-off print made by pressing paper onto an inked plate.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain