Ballet Dancers on the Stage

Degas's perspective of the ballet is like that of a patron in a box at the theater who uses binoculars to watch the dancers. Not all of the dancers on the stage can be seen, but some are brought closer and parts of the group suggest the whole. Using devices common to the Japanese prints he so admired, Degas arranges his composition in an asymmetrical way, balancing a triangular void at bottom left with the cluster of figures filling the center and upper right. With a masterful pastel technique, Degas creates a pattern of light and dark that makes the dancers and their costumes glow magically in the footlights.