The Ballet Class

Edgar Degas 1834–1917

The Ballet Class (1871) by Edgar Degas. Its palette is led by golden umber (#766e58, 36%) and golden olive (#948e75, 26%), with accents of pale golden sand. Overall the canvas is mid-toned, muted and warm.

Color note

Degas worked more and more in pastel, building up layers of pure color and fixing each coat; many of his dancers are pastels, not oils.

Palette

#766e58 MG 183 golden umber 35.7% of canvas
#948e75 MG 191 golden olive 26.2% of canvas
#574f42 MG 176 taupe 23.5% of canvas
#251e20 MG 222 charcoal 7.8% of canvas
#bdb7a6 MG 189 pale golden sand 6.8% of canvas

Color families

Brown 89%, Gray 6%, Black 5%, Green 0%, White 0%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.53
Contrast: 0.43
Vividness: 0.030
Warmth: +1.00
Complexity: 157 cells
Hue range: 0.33
Focus: 0.00

Composition

58% of the visual weight is in the left half, 55% in the upper half. Symmetry 0.55 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 34% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 28% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1871
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 85.0 × 75.0 cm
Genre: genre art
Collection: Musée d'Orsay, Paris

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More by Edgar Degas

The Bellelli Family, 1858
Interior, 1868
L'Absinthe, 1875
Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879