Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey

1866, reworked 1880–1881 and c. 1897

Oil on canvas, 180 × 152 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington

A jockey lies on his back after a fall while horses gallop over him. Degas first showed it at the Salon of 1866, as Steeplechase Scene.

Patches of the first blue sky and a painted-out horse still show through. Degas leaves these traces of his changes visible, as Impressionist painters often let the process of painting show.
He reworked it around 1880–81 and again about 1897, making large changes each time.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon acquired it in 1960; it came to the National Gallery of Art in 1999.

A steeplechase is a horse race over fences and ditches, so falls were common. Jockeys wore bright silk caps, like the pink one lying beside the fallen man.

pentimento: A trace of an earlier stage that shows through later paint.

Image: National Gallery of Art Open Access · CC0