Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917). <em>Portrait of Mlle Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source" (Portrait de Mlle...E[ugénie] F[iocre]: à propos du ballet "La Source")</em>, ca. 1867-1868. Oil on canvas, 51 1/2 x 57 1/8 in., 166 lb. (130.8 x 145.1 cm, 75.3kg). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of James H. Post, A. Augustus Healy, and John T. Underwood, 21.111 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 21.111_PS11.jpg)

Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917). Portrait of Mlle Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source" (Portrait de Mlle...E[ugénie] F[iocre]: à propos du ballet "La Source"), ca. 1867-1868. Oil on canvas, 51 1/2 x 57 1/8 in., 166 lb. (130.8 x 145.1 cm, 75.3kg). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of James H. Post, A. Augustus Healy, and John T. Underwood, 21.111 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 21.111_PS11.jpg)

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Where was this painted?

The initial impulse for Degas' paintings was almost always a scene or figure that he had actually observed. In this case, it was a performance or rehearsal of the ballet La Source, which premiered at the Théâtre Impériale de l'Opéra in Paris in 1866. Although he made sketches on site, he painted the final canvas (as well as many preparatory studies) entirely in his studio, which was also in Paris, and later even reworked it.

I read in the label that the ballerina was a real person, is that true?

Yes, Eugénie Fiocre (1845-1908) was quite a celebrity in her day. Originally from humble origins, she rose through the ranks of the ballet troupe at the Paris Opéra and acquired great fame and wealth, eventually even making a brilliant aristocratic marriage. This is Degas's first painting with a ballet subject and it's quite telling that he chose to show her in a moment of private thought during a rehearsal, rather than as a star performing her role. A lot of the later ballet paintings for which he is most famous take a similar approach.

She is in costume for her part though: a blue silk robe with silver braid, gold-speckled light gauze trousers, and a "Tartar" headdress in red satin embroidered with black and red pearls and gold spangles. And this ballet production really did include real water on stage, and live horses in one scene!

Very interesting! Thanks! When did the museum acquire the painting?

The painting remained in Degas's studio until his death in 1917, when it was sold to an art dealer. Then it was purchased by the Brooklyn Museum in 1921.

Can you tell me more about this Degas?

Degas was inspired to paint this picture after seeing a rehearsal for the ballet La Source before it opened in Paris in 1866. However, the final work was done later in his studio, from a variety of sketches and other sources.

It's actually his first work of a ballet subject, the thing that he's most famous for today! This ballet had a live horse onstage, and real water.

This dancer was a celebrity who rose through the ranks of the ballet troupe at the Paris Opéra. She's in costume for her part, the Georgian princess Nouredda. She wears a blue robe with silver braid, gold-speckled gauze trousers, and a "Tartar" headdress in red satin embroidered with black and red pearls and gold spangles. (The Tartars were a Turkic people living in Asia and Europe.)

It's a remarkable painting and it seems modern.

I agree, Degas was certainly ahead of his time in his ideas about composition and space.

I am surprised about the horse and water. My daughter is a ballerina and we think she's cooling her feet after removing pointe shoes.

This really must have been quite a production, right? I love the idea of her cooling her feet after a long rehearsal.

Thanks!

You are very welcome!

Was this made at the Paris opera? Or done from Degas' memory?

The initial impulse for one of Degas's paintings was usually a scene or figure that he had actually observed—in this case, a pause in the rehearsal for the ballet "La Source," which opened at the Paris Opera on November 12, 1866. (This was not the Garnier Opera we think of today; it was still being built. Rather, Degas attended the Paris Opera on the rue Peletier.) However, he actually painted the picture back in his studio.The final work was the result of a complex, carefully planned process that drew on the sketches he made at the rehearsal and other sources.

Degas wrote of his process: "No art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the Old Masters—of inspiration, temperament, spontaneity... I know nothing."

Degas began work on the Portrait of Mlle Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source" in the summer of 1867 and had it ready for exhibition at the Salon in the spring of 1868. Following his academic training, he first made many preparatory studies of the individual parts of the picture before putting them together in a finished composition.

Can you tell me more about this painting?

Degas was inspired to paint this picture after seeing a rehearsal for the ballet "La Source" before it opened in Paris in 1866. The final work was done in his studio, using a variety of sketches and other sources as a reference.

It was actually his first work of a ballet subject, the thing he is most famous for today! This dancer, Eugenie Fiocre, was a celebrity who rose through the corp de ballet at the Paris Opera.

That is so awesome!!! Thank you.

Can you tell me every color of paint used?

That's a great question! Degas's paints were not named and categorized the same way they would be now in an arts store, but he would have used paints with some of the same pigments to achieve these colors. Here are some specifics on what he likely used:

The white is lead white (no longer in popular use because of how poisonous lead is!) as well as baryte. The earth tones are made using iron oxides, so they would be similar to red and yellow ochre colors you would find today. The bright red is vermilion. These pigments were often used by Degas, and are not specific to this painting, but will probably give you a good idea of what was available to him.

Great. Thanks!

Portrait of Mlle Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source" (Portrait de Mlle...E[ugénie] F[iocre]: à propos du ballet "La Source")

Edgar Degas

European Art

The first of Edgar Degas’s many works to focus on the ballet, this painting depicts Eugénie Fiocre, a celebrated ballerina, in her role as princess Nourreda in the ballet La Source. The production presented a fantasy of an exotic “Orient,” featuring Mlle Fiocre as (in the words of one writer) “the prettiest blonde houri who ever wore the bonnet and the corset of pearls in the paradise of Muhammad.” The 1866 production at the Paris Opéra—with its elaborate costumes and sets, including the hydraulic-powered running stream and live horse seen in Degas’s painting—astonished audiences and provided fodder for caricaturists, who compared the women at the water’s edge to laundresses.

Degas portrays Mlle Fiocre resting during a pause in rehearsal. There is nothing in the painting to indicate that this is a theater set rather than an imagined historical or literary scene except for the dancer’s pink ballet slippers, visible between the horse’s front legs. Mixing stage artifice and psychological realism, Degas captures a complex moment when time, place, self, and performance intersect.

ARTIST Edgar Degas, French, 1834-1917

MEDIUM Oil on canvas

Place Made: France

DATES ca. 1867-1868

DIMENSIONS 51 1/2 x 57 1/8 in., 166 lb. (130.8 x 145.1 cm, 75.3kg) frame: 63 x 69 x 6 1/4 in. (160 x 175.3 x 15.9 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS European Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 21.111

CREDIT LINE Gift of James H. Post, A. Augustus Healy, and John T. Underwood

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917). Portrait of Mlle Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source" (Portrait de Mlle...E[ugénie] F[iocre]: à propos du ballet "La Source"), ca. 1867-1868. Oil on canvas, 51 1/2 x 57 1/8 in., 166 lb. (130.8 x 145.1 cm, 75.3kg). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of James H. Post, A. Augustus Healy, and John T. Underwood, 21.111 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 21.111_PS11.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 21.111_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2022

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