# The Dancing Class [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [DEGAS, Edgar]() - Date: 1851-1900 - Technique: Oil on wood, 20 x 27 cm ## Commentary The Dancing Class c. 1870 Oil on wood, 20 x 27 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York This is the first of Degas's numerous scenes of ballet dancers in the Paris Opéra. The dancer at the centre of this composition is Joséphine Gaujelin \(or Gozelin\). Even more than his jockeys, it is Degas's ballerinas who have determined his popular image to this day. From 1870 he increasingly painted ballet subjects; among other reasons, they were easier to sell, and the family bankruptcy left Degas needing money. ## Related artworks - [A Ballet Dancer in Position]() - [Absinthe Drinkers]() - [After the Bath]() - [After the Bath. Woman Drying Herself]() - [At the Beach]() - [At the Café des Ambassadeurs]() - [At the Milliner's]() - [At the Milliner's]() - [At the Mirror]() - [At the Races in the Countryside]() - [Aux Ambassadeurs: Mademoiselle Bécat]() - [Ballerina with a Bouquet, Curtsying]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()