Edgar Degas – Before the Race

Before the Race shows five riders on horseback, scattered across an empty ochre plain, before the race begins. At the front left sits a rider in a yellow vest and striped sleeves, in the centre two horses overlap, the front one with its head lowered almost to the ground, and at the right two riders move away, seen from behind. There is no grandstand, no rail, no crowd. The original is painted in oil on panel and is held by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore under the accession number 37.850. We make it as a hand-painted work, in sizes from 40 x 30 to 120 x 90 cm or to your own measurements, and you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.

Before the Race – Edgar Degas

Who is shown?

Five riders, none of them named. The nearest is at the front left: sitting upright, turned towards us, in a yellow vest with striped orange and red sleeves and a dark red cap, his horse cut by the left edge. In the centre two horses overlap; the rider on the front one leans forward, in blue and orange with white sleeves. At the right one rider moves away, seen from behind, and right at the edge, smaller and further off, another in a yellow cap. Nobody looks out at us.

What is on the canvas?

The scene is landscape in format and almost one colour. The ground, the horses and the distance are a single warm ochre, and the sky above them is a pale pink-cream that takes the top third. At the left rises a low brown-olive hill. The field is empty: no stand, no rail, no rope, no crowd. The most unusual detail is the dark brown horse in front, whose head is lowered almost to the ground — not a racing posture but a waiting one. The only pure colours in the whole scene are the riders’ silks: yellow, blue, orange, white.

Why does this particular scene matter?

Because it looks unfinished and is signed all the same. Degas painted the work on a wooden panel and laid the colour on so thinly that the warm ground shows through everywhere — through the grass, through the horses, through the sky. The horse at the left is barely more than a sketch. That was exactly what its own time could not accept: a work that admits to having been made and does not hide its own surface. The second thing is the choice of moment. As in his other racing scenes, nothing happens: the horses walk, turn, wait. There is no race.

What does the scene mean?

Stillness before effort. The tension is in the fact that it has not started yet. Impressionism for Degas always meant a cutting caught as the eye sees it, and here the cutting is empty — no public, no finishing post, no winner. An impressionist painting of this kind therefore reads as a look over the edge of the field rather than a scene of sport. As wall art it is unusually quiet: it carries a room through warmth rather than through a story, and so it holds well where you want a calm wall.

The motif among Degas’s works

Horse racing is Degas’s second great subject, right after the ballet. Gentlemen’s Race. Before the Start catches the same waiting moment, but with factory chimneys behind it, At the Races in the Countryside shows the same world with a family and a carriage, and Race Horses before the Stands puts the horses in front of the crowd. The original is held by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and how closely Degas studied the rider himself is shown by Jockey at the Art Institute of Chicago.

How is our hand-painted version made?

With a brush and oil colours, not a printer. Here our technique differs from the original: Degas painted on wood, we paint in oil on canvas, which means the warmth of the ground has to be reached with colour rather than with the wood beneath it. So with this motif everything begins with a warm ochre lay-in across the whole surface, only then come the horses, and last of all the riders’ silks. The hardest part is the lowered head of the front horse: drawn too hard, the scene turns into a drawing. Every reproduction is made afresh and no two copies are ever quite the same, because the hand does not repeat the same stroke twice; every hand-painted copy is therefore its own. For this work we have no photographs of our finished canvases, so we show and describe none here. The photograph of your canvas reaches you before dispatch.

Which size for which wall?

If you do not know which: 80 x 60 cm. The original measures 26.4 x 34.9 cm and is therefore very small; our 40 x 30 cm size comes nearest to it in both size and proportion, because our sizes follow the shape of this work faithfully. The 40 x 30 and 50 x 40 cm sizes are for a smaller room or a hallway, where the individual riders do become hard to tell apart. The 59 x 50 and 70 x 55 cm sizes are the middle choice above a chest of drawers. The 80 x 60 cm size is the most frequent decision for a living room, where a canvas painting like this asks for a calm surface. The 90 x 70 and 100 x 80 cm sizes are for a larger wall, where the empty field is given its space, and at 120 x 90 cm we are at the sizes where a large painting really breathes. Measure your chosen size on the wall with a paper cut-out first; with a landscape format the mistake is usually made in the width. None of the sizes is held in stock as a finished item: every copy is made to order and stays a single piece.

Custom size, stretcher bar and frame

If none of the eight sizes suits your wall, we paint to your measurements and keep the proportions of the scene, so that the line of horses stays whole and the rider at the right edge is not lost; that is our painting made to order. Every copy is delivered stretched on a wooden bar, ready to hang. For the frame, use our 3D application: on this motif it shows every moulding profile we carry, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood – it is for choosing a frame and nothing else. If you want to see how the work looks on your own wall, that is our separate room-placement service.

Delivery and guarantee

Every copy is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose; for the largest sizes the time is usually at the upper end. We send it stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose a frame, to sixteen countries in the European Union, without customs duties. You receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch, and our returns policy applies to every order. The whole range is in the Edgar Degas gallery, and the painter’s life is described in our article about Edgar Degas.

Frequently asked questions

What is happening in the scene?

Nothing yet. The riders are moving over the field before the start; the race has not begun.

How many riders are shown?

Five. Two at the front, one in the centre right and one right at the edge, smaller and further off.

Why is the front horse’s head lowered?

Because it is not racing. A head almost to the ground is the posture of a horse waiting or grazing, and it is the most unusual detail in the scene.

Where are the stands and the spectators?

There are none. The field is empty – no rail, no rope and no crowd, which is what separates this scene from most racing scenes.

Where is the original located?

In the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, under the accession number 37.850.

How large is the original?

26.4 by 34.9 cm, so very small and wider than it is tall. Our 40 x 30 cm size comes nearest to it.

Why is the original on wood and your version on canvas?

Because linen at this size is more durable and easier to hang. The warm ground that the wood gives in Degas, we paint with colour.

Is this a print?

No. The work is painted by hand in oil colours; the brushstrokes are visible and can be felt.

Which size should I choose?

Above a chest of drawers usually 80 x 60 cm, for a smaller room 50 x 40 cm. The size guide is above.

Can I have a size that is not listed?

Yes, we paint to measure and keep the proportions of the scene while doing it.

Is it suitable as a gift?

Yes, especially for someone who rides or likes horses and open landscape. Because every copy is made to order, allow for the making time; if you would rather leave the choice to them, there is our gift voucher.

• Subject: five riders on an empty ochre field before the start, the front horse with its head lowered, no stands and no spectators
• Original: Edgar Degas, oil on panel, 26.4 x 34.9 cm, Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (37.850)
• Ours: hand-painted in oil, eight sizes from 40 x 30 to 120 x 90 cm, stretched and framed on request
• Worth knowing: the colour is laid on so thinly that the wooden ground shows through the whole scene – the work looks unfinished and is signed all the same