In the late 1800s, the famous impressionist painter went often to the Paris Opéra Ballet to watch dancers and draw them, usually capturing the dancers in repose. Although he painted the female body in many other guises—as bathers, singers and even prostitutes, he returned again and again to the ballet. When you see his tutu clad dancers, now part of an expansive exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, you realize the fantasy and detail he poured into those paintings.
Dancers preparing for performance.
Frieze of Dancers, 1895.
Three ballet dancers, monotype, 1878-90.
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