This small picture was probably painted in late 1871. In January 1872, it was entered as *Foyer de la Danse* in Durand-Ruel's stock book in London. The following month, it was sold to a Monsieur Brandon (probably the painter Jacques-Emile-Edouard Brandon, who was a friend of Degas, or possibly to Brandon's son) and subsequently lent by Brandon to the first Impressionist Exhibition in 1874 (see Ronald Pickvance, "Degas's Dancers 1872-6," *Burlington Magazine* CV/723 [June 1963], p. 257). Pickvance has also established that *The Dancing Class* is the first of Degas's treatments of the rehearsal room. Although there is evidence that Degas made some changes to this picture while he was working on it (for example, the positions, especially the head of the central figure and her reflection in the mirror, were changed), no preparatory drawings or studies have survived. This is another indication that *The Dancing Class* is the full record of Degas's initial thoughts about a subject that was to occupy him for years thereafter.

*The Dancing Class* remains generally within the bounds of an overall middle tone, occasionally accented by a full white (the sheet of paper in the hat; the light coming through the door at the rear) or a full black (the violinist's hat and suit; the violin case). Color, in the sense of hue and intensity, is subordinated to color in the sense of values (the tonal range from light to dark). This mode relates to the interests of Impressionism in the early seventies, as well as to directions pursued by Whistler since the early sixties.

The painting also bears importance as Degas's first essay in the orchestration of figure groups in an interior: "...stylistically, the most striking feature about these two paintings [the other is *Le Foyer de la Danse à l'Opéra de la rue le Peletier*, 1872, Musée du Louvre, R.F. 1977] is that, for the first time, Degas has concerned himself with the problem of the orchestration of figure groups in an interior... Degas has clearly stated his interior by using two walls of the room, which create a wedge-like space. A direct source of light has been avoided: an evenly diffused light fills both rooms..." (Pickvance, p. 258). However, it is worth noting that by means of the mirrors and doorways at the left, Degas complicated the spatial illusion and upset what Pickvance calls a "clearly stated... interior." Theodore Reff has discussed Degas's use of mirrors and doorways to create pictures within pictures in order to "...call attention to the artificial aspects of the picture in which it occurs, reminding us... of the artist's mind and hand..." (see Theodore Reff, "The Pictures within Degas's Pictures," *Metropolitan Museum Journal* 1 [1968], p. 125). Degas's fascination with the unnatural, artificial poses of the dancers is consonant with his interest in the artifice of the picture itself. As if to underscore these concerns, Degas provides a visual analogy between the watering can and the shape formed by the violin and the musician's left arm. In later works, the watering can is sometimes used as an analogue to the position of the dancer, e.g., *Dancers Practicing at the Bar* (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 29.100.34) and *La Classe de Danse* (Musée du Louvre, R.F. 1976).

In 1874, Edmond de Goncourt noted that Degas's interest in dancers was an extension of a more generalized interest in what Reff defines as "expert, specialized" worlds: "When he painted laundresses in their shops or dancers in their practice rooms, he observed their characteristic gestures and habits of speech, and later surprised Edmond de Goncourt, himself a connoisseur of the precise word, by showing him pictures of these women while 'parlant leur langue, nous expliquant techniquement le coup de fer appuyé, le coup de fer circulaire, etc. Et c'est vraiment très amusant de le voir, sur le haut de ses pointes, les bras arrondis, mêler à l'esthétique du maître de danse l'esthétique du peintre' [while speaking to us with their language and explaining technically the stroke of the iron for pressing and the circular stroke, etc. And it's really very humorous to see him, up on his toes and with his arms curved, blending the aesthetics of the dance master with the aesthetics of the painter]" (Theodore Reff, "The Technical Aspects of Degas's Art," *Metropolitan Museum Journal* 4 [1971], p. 143; also cf. John Rewald, "The Realism of Degas," *Magazine of Art* XXXIX/1 [January 1946], p. 16).

Inscription: Signed (lower right): Degas 

Accession Number: 29.100.184

Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 

Provenance:

[Durand-Ruel, Paris, bought from the artist in January 1872; stock no. 943; traded, together with a painting by Henry Levy and one by Héreau, on January 16, 1872, for two paintings by Zamacoïs, two by Richet, and Fr 1,500, to Premsel]; Premsel, ?Paris (1872; traded, together with Fr 6,000, on January 30, 1872, for a painting by Corot valued at Fr 7,000, to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1872; stock no. 979; traded on February 6, 1872, for a painting by Puvis de Chavannes, one by Brandon, and Fr 500 to Brandon]; Jacques-Émile-Édouard Brandon, Paris (1872–at least 1874); [Durand-Ruel, Paris and London, 1876]; Captain Henry Hill, Brighton (from 1875 or 1876–d. 1882; his estate, 1882–89; his estate sale, Christie's, London, May 25, 1889, no. 26, as "A pas de deux," for gns 41 to Wallis); [Wallis & Son, London, from 1889]; Michel Manzi, Paris (until d. 1915); his widow, Charlotte Manzi, Paris (1915–16, sold on December 5, 1916 through Mary Cassatt to Havemeyer); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1916–d. 1929; cat., 1931, p. 117, ill.)