Yellow Dancers (In the Wings)
Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)1874–76
View the original$18
Type
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
Edgar Degas first painted dancers as an independent subject in 1871. He was to devote almost half his output as an artist to this subject, observing countless performances and rehearsals at the Paris Opéra. Here he placed the viewer in the wings, as if among the elite Opéra subscribers who roamed and socialized backstage. Dance subjects allowed Degas to contemporize his lifelong interest in showing the human body in complex movement, shifting the scene from ancient history to modern Paris. He finished and signed the present canvas in time for the second Impressionist exhibition, in April 1876.
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 73.5 × 59.5 cm (28 15/16 × 23 7/16 in.)
Museum record · 2 owners · 15 exhibitions
Provenance
- Shipped by the artist to the art dealer, Charles W. Deschamps, London, around May 15, 1876.
- James Staats Forbes, London; sold to Goupil et Cie, Paris on July 25, 1891; sold to Potter Palmer (died 1902), Chicago on September 18, 1891; by descent in the Palmer family; given to the Art Institute, 1963.
Exhibitions
- Paris, Second Impressionist Exhibition, April 1876.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, June 1–November 1, 1933.
- Northampton, Mass., The Smith College Museum of Art, Edgar Degas: Paintings, Drawings, Pastels, Sculpture, November 28–December 18, 1933.
- Springfield, Mass., Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, From David to Cézanne: Paintings and Drawings, February 9–March 10, 1935.
- New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, French Painting from David to Toulouse-Lautrec: Loans from French and American Museums and Collections, February 6–March 26, 1941.
- The Cleveland Museum of Art, Works By Edgar Degas, February 5–March 9, 1947.
- Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Trésors Impressionnistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27–August 31, 1980.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Degas in The Art Institute of Chicago, July 19–September 23, 1984.
- Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, The Impressionist Tradition: Masterpieces from The Art Institute of Chicago, October 18–December 17, 1985; traveled to Fukuoka, Art Museum, January 5–February 2, 1986 and Kyoto, Municipal Museum of Art, March 4–April 13, 1986.
- Leningrad, Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: shedevry frantsuzskoĭ zhivopici XIX-nachala XX veka, iz Muieia Metropoliten v Niu-Ĭorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago, March 15-May 19, 1988; Moscow, Pushkin Museum, June 10-July 30, 1988.
- Detroit Institute of Arts, Degas and the Dance, October18–January 12, 2003; traveled to Philadelphia, Museum of Art, February16–May 11, 2003.
- London, Tate Britain, Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris 1870-1910, October 5, 2005-January 15, 2006, traveled to Washington, DC, The Phillips Collection, February 18-May 14, 2006, shown in London only.
- Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil, "Degas, the Universe of an Artist," May 16–August 20, 2006.
- Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, "Degas: At the Track, On the Stage," July 1, 2015-February 26, 2016, no cat. Paris, Musèe d'Orsay, Degas at the Opera, September 23, 2019-January 19, 2020; Washington DC, National Gallery of Art, March 1-October 12, 2020.
