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Although at first glance we feel that we have just happened upon this scene, it is not at all realistic. Degas, unlike his Impressionist friends, rarely worked from life. Instead he worked from sketches, from memory and from his imagination. Despite this he has managed to capture a feeling of immediacy – the dancer almost hidden by the spiral staircase, the ankles descending the staircase and the woman on the right who is nearly cut in two.
Date
c.1874
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 58.4 x W 83.8 cm
Accession number
35.246
Acquisition method
gift from Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944
Work type
Painting
Inscription description
signed/dated