Tickets
English
DonateMembershipTickets

Dancers Practicing at the Barre

1877
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 815
The watering can, visible at left, was a standard fixture in ballet rehearsal rooms; water was sprinkled on the floor to keep dust from rising when ballerinas danced. Degas also used the watering can as a visual pun: its shape is mimicked by that of the dancer at right. Shown at the 1877 Impressionist exhibition, the painting was given by Degas to the collector Henri Rouart as a replacement for an earlier work (now lost), which the artist altered and accidentally destroyed. Louisine Havemeyer purchased it from Rouart's estate sale in 1912, for $95,700, a record price for a work by a living artist.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dancers Practicing at the Barre
  • Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
  • Date: 1877
  • Medium: Mixed media on canvas
  • Dimensions: 29 3/4 x 32 in. (75.6 x 81.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.100.34
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer, Edgar Degas French, Partially tinted bronze, cotton tarlatan, silk satin, and wood, French, Paris
The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer
Edgar Degas
Founder Cast by A. A. Hébrard
modeled 1881, cast 1922, modern tutu
Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French
Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century
Rustam in the Dead of Winter, 2009, Fereydoun Ave Iranian, Mixed media and print on canvas
Rustam in the Dead of Winter, 2009
Fereydoun Ave
2009
The Dance Class, Edgar Degas French, Oil on canvas
The Dance Class
Edgar Degas
1874
Osage Warrior, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin French, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Osage Warrior
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin
1805–7

Related Content

Timeline of Art History

Entries and chronologies from The Met's art encyclopedia.

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.