The Dance Class, Edgar Degas, 1874.
Degas, who has begun to paint dancers not long before going to New Orleans, was now in the 1870s frequently devoting much of his time to the theme. On the one hand, he could be compassionate about the aging of a great dancer of the romantic period, Jules Perrot. Even in his stillness Perrot is the antithesis of the dancers around him. On the otherhand, Degas was infinitely touched by the efforts of the dancers to give the illusion that they could flout the laws of gravity. He admired their efforts, which were often less successful than those of the young dancer performing an arabesque here for Perrot. They are placed brilliantly in opposition to each other- one defying the earth, the other with his stick seeking a securer relationship to it.
(via fleetingbeauty)
