| The Dance Class | |
| Artist: | Edgar Degas |
| Year: | 1874 |
| Type: | Oil paint on canvas |
| Dimensions: | 83.5cmx77.2cmcm (32.9inchesx30.4inchescm) |
| Museum: | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| City: | New York |
| Accession: | 1987.47.1 |
The Dance Class is an 1874 oil painting on canvas by the French artist Edgar Degas.[1] It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.[2]
The painting and its companion work in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, are amongst the most ambitious works by Degas on the theme of ballet. The imaginary scene depicts a dance class being held under the supervision of Jules Perrot, a famous ballet master, in the old Paris Opera, which had actually burnt down the previous year.The poster on the wall for Rossini's Guillaume Tell is a tribute to the operatic singer Jean-Baptiste Faure, who had commissioned the work.[2]
The painting is on view in the Metropolitan Museum's Gallery 815 .[2]