Degas Dance Class Tote*The Met Store Store

Art tote bags exhibiting Museum masterpieces

Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917) painted this ambitious figural composition in 1874. The Dance Class, now in The Met collection, pictures some 24 women—ballerinas and their mothers—waiting as a dancer executes an attitude for her examination by the ballet master Jules Perrot. Degas prepared for this picture with countless drawings made in his studio while dancers posed for him.