Two Dancers on a Stage

Copyright

Work in the public domain
Image: Courtauld
by-nc

Maker


1834-1917

Title

Two Dancers on a Stage

Date of Production

1874

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

Height: 61.5 cm (canvas)
Width: 46 cm (canvas)

Object Number

P.1932.SC.89

Mode of Acquisition

Samuel Courtauld, gift, 1932

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

On display
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Keywords

Label Text

Edgar Degas was fascinated by ballet, producing over a thousand works on the subject. While this work appears to depict a performance, the presence of a third ballerina at rest indicates it may in fact be a dress rehearsal, to which Degas was often granted access.

The painting’s side view is unconventional. It is as if we are observing from a box at the edge of the stage. The lines on the floor, which may represent tracks for sliding scenery, emphasise Degas’s dynamic composition while evoking the staging of ballet.

Inscriptions

Inscription: inscription : signed : bottom left : : Degas

Provenance

Captain Henry Hill, Brighton, by 1874; Hill Sale, Christie's, 25 May 1889 (lot 31) purchased Goupil; Victor Desfossés; sold by Desfossés 4 November 1889, to Goupil-Boussod & Valadon successeurs; Goupil- Boussod & Valadon successeurs, sold 13 November 1899 to Paul Gaillmard, Paris; Alex Reid, Glasgow; Sir James Murray, Aberdeen, sold Christie’s, 29 April 1927 (lot 41); M. Knoedler & Co., London; purchased by Samuel Courtauld, June 1927; Courtauld Gift, 1932

Exhibition History

Degas and Britain, Burrell Collection, Glasgow, 24/05/2024-30/09/2024
Masterpieces of Impressionism from The Courtauld Gallery, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 10/09/2019-15/12/2019; Aichi Prefectural Museum, Nagoya, Japan, 03/01/2020-15/03/2020; Kobe City Museum, Kobe, Japan, 28/03/2020-21/06/2020
The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, 20/02/2019-17/06/2019
...More
Courtauld Impressionists: From Manet to Cezanne, National Gallery, London, 17/09/2018-20/01/2019
Courtauld Connects Regional Programme (Pilot) - Degas' Dancers, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, 11/03/2016-19/06/2016
Degas Dancers - Eye and Camera, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 17/09/2011-11/12/2011
Impressionism and Scotland, National Gallery of Scotland & Edinburgh & Scotland, 19/07/2008-12/10/2008
Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec, Tate Britain, London, 05/10/2005-15/01/2006
Degas and the Dance, Philadelphia Museum of Art & Philadelphia & USA, 16/02/2003-11/05/2003
The Value of Art, Courtauld Gallery, London, 24/06/1999-30/08/1999
The Courtauld Collection: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 14/06/1998-21/09/1998
The Courtauld Collection, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, 26/12/1997-12/05/1998
Degas/Lautrec, Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1947
...Less

Literature

The Courtauld Collection: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1998

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