Description
Year of creation: 1872
Original size: 49 cm x 63.6 cm
Painting style: Impressionism
Original technique: Oil on canvas
Located: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main (inv. SG 237)
Orchestra Musicians – Edgar Degas
The lower part of the canvas is taken by three players in the orchestra pit, seen from behind and from the side. At the left a bearded man in profile raises a hand to his chin; in the middle the scroll of a cello rises past a dark head; at the right stands the head of a grey-haired man. Our canvas painting keeps exactly that closeness, which seats the viewer among them.
Three heads and one scroll
All three are in black with white collars, and none of them is playing for us – we see them as somebody in the front row of the stalls sees them. The scroll of the cello is the only instrument that rises fully into the scene; everything else is indicated. At the upper right the wide bell of a brass instrument catches the light.
The stage above the rail
Above them a dark rail separates the pit from the stage. Higher up a lit scene opens: a dancer in a white and pink skirt, flowers in her hair, bows towards us, and to her left a row of dancers in pink stands before painted greenery. The bow is the only moment in the picture meant for an audience – and even it is seen over other people’s heads.
A canvas that grew
The picture was made in two phases: between 1874 and 1876 Degas sewed a new strip onto the top and trimmed the sides, so that the scene turned from horizontal to upright. The musicians stayed close, and the stage gained room. The same view from the stalls is shown by The Orchestra at the Opera, and music in a private room by Lorenzo Pagans and Auguste De Gas. The signature is at the lower right.
Our version
Our version is a hand-painted oil painting on canvas. Every canvas is painted individually, in the size and frame you choose. The painter works from the original with brush and oils, so the strokes and the layering stay visible – the part a print cannot reproduce.
