From 1860 Edgar Degas, attended most of the backstage of the Paris Opera. Since he was a child in his family, was surrounded by music lovers, indeed he was familiar with this kind of environment. One thing that he always liked about the Opera, were the moments before the shows, where the ballerinas were training, and helping each other with the costumes, while a conversation, in moments of intimacy. His most favorite, and where he took inspiration was the foyer of the Palais Garnier used as playground.
Several were the paintings he painted, as subject all the ballerinas; naming himself “painter of the dancers”.
Some of the most famous paintings among us:
– The Ballet Class
– Waiting
– Dancer with Bouquet
– Dancers and Dancer with a Bouquet Bowing
Degas as impressionist used to see and portray the romantic part of the world of the dance using pastel colors and introducing monotype into his works. This technique consists of drawing with pastel or gouache directly onto an ink-coated canvas in order to create a single and unique design.
Around the end of 1800 he sculpted a vast collection of dancers 
sculpted with a rare sense of realism, which caused scandal; the most well-known is “the Little Dancer of Fourteen Years”
Mariachiara Giovanna Scardamaglio 2Q Classico Cambridge 2.0 – Liceo Vico Napoli
