Edgar Degas – The Rape

The Rape shows a narrow bedroom by the light of a single lamp. At the left a woman sits turned into the corner, in a white shift with one shoulder bare and her head down; her face is not visible. On the round table at the centre stands the lamp, and beside it an open sewing box lined in pink. At the right, against the door, a man stands with his hands in his pockets, in shadow, his own shadow falling on the door beside him. Between them are a narrow iron bed with a white cover and the bare floor, on which a pale garment lies discarded. The original is an oil work on canvas and is held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art under inventory number 1986-26-10. Ours is made by hand in eight sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 100 cm, or to your own measurement, and you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before it ships.

The Rape – Edgar Degas

Who is in the scene?

Two people in one room; the record names neither of them. At the left a woman sits on a low chair, turned away from us and into the corner. She wears a white shift that has slipped from one shoulder, and a dark skirt or shawl across her lap. Her head is down and her face cannot be seen. At the right, against the closed door, a man stands: dark jacket, pale trousers, a beard, hands in his pockets. He leans on the frame and looks towards her. His shadow falls on the door beside him and is nearly as large as he is. Between the two there is nobody, and nothing is happening.

What is on the canvas?

A narrow bedroom with a small floral pattern on the walls and a dark wooden floor. At the centre stands a round table carrying the lamp with its pale shade, the only source of light, and an open sewing box lined in pink — the one warm colour on the whole surface. Behind it a mantelpiece with a large gilt mirror in which something is dimly reflected. Right of centre stands a narrow iron bed with a white fringed cover; a dark coat and a dark garment hang over its end. On the floor in front lies a pale garment. On the wall hang a small framed print and an oval medallion. Lower right, the signature.

Why does this scene matter?

Because nothing is happening, and that is what makes it hard to look at. Two people are placed in a small room as far apart as the room allows: she in the left corner, he by the door at the right. The lamp lights the space between them rather than either of them; her face is turned away, his is in shadow. The only event on the canvas is the open box and the garment on the floor. Degas does not say what has happened, and he does not say who is who. So the scene reads as a stopped moment whose beginning and end we are not shown.

What does the scene mean?

Tension between two people, with no explanation offered. Impressionism in Degas never meant sun and water; it meant a cut from modern life as the eye takes it from one particular place — here from the door of a small rented room. An impressionist painting of this kind stands closer to a scene from a novel than to something decorative. As wall art it is demanding and quiet, almost without colour; it does not belong over a sofa but in a study, a home library or a hallway, where a viewer stops in front of it alone. Choose a large painting here and the two figures come close to life size, which makes the distance between them the first thing anyone notices.

The subject among Degas’s works

Degas painted interiors with one or two figures throughout his career. The Collector of Prints sets one man among his own possessions, The Convalescent shows a single female figure in held-back colour, and A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers pushes the person to the edge of the scene. The work is recorded in the Degas catalogue raisonné as MS 940, entered there under both names; a study for the standing man, MS 845, also survives.

How is our hand-painted version made?

With a brush and oil paint, not a printer. The original is oil on canvas, so the same technique as ours. On this subject everything depends on a single light. We build the room from the darkest towards the light and leave the lamp until last so that it stays the brightest point on the surface; set too early, it darkens everything else. The floral pattern on the walls we paint as a rhythm of small strokes rather than as separate flowers, or the wall steps forward. The pink lining of the box is the only warm colour and has to stay the only one. The white bedcover and the white shift are two different whites. Every reproduction is painted afresh, and no two are quite alike, because a hand does not repeat the same stroke twice; each hand-painted copy is therefore its own. For this work we have no photographs of our finished canvases, so none are shown here and none are described. You receive the photograph of your own canvas before it ships.

Which size for which wall?

If you do not know which: 114 x 81 cm. That size is unusual on this work, because it matches the original almost to the centimetre — the original measures 81.3 x 114.3 cm, and 114 x 81 cm is the closest of everything we make in both area and proportion. The 50 x 40 and 60 x 40 cm are small; at those sizes the two figures merge into the darkness of the room. The 70 x 50 and 80 x 60 cm are the usual choice above a chest of drawers, and there the open box and the lamp already read clearly. The 90 x 60 and 100 x 70 cm want a broader wall and give the dark room enough space. The 114 x 81 cm is the original’s own size. At 150 x 100 cm we are at the sizes where a canvas painting takes over a room and the figures come close to life size. Measure the size you choose on the wall first with a paper cut-out; and reckon with the fact that this work is dark and needs light in the room. No size is kept in stock as a finished piece: every copy is painted to order and stays a single piece.

Custom size, stretcher and frame

If none of the eight sizes fits, or if you want the exact proportion of the original, we paint to your measurement and keep the proportions of the scene as we do, so that the distance between the woman at the left and the man at the right stays what it is in Degas; that distance is the subject. This is our work painted to order. Every piece ships stretched on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang. For the frame, use our 3D app: it shows every moulding we carry on this subject, 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, we have a separate service for that, placement in the room.

Delivery and guarantee

Every piece is painted to order in our workshop in Slovenia, so allow 15-45 days depending on the size chosen; at the largest sizes the time is usually at the upper end. It travels stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose a frame, anywhere in the European Union with no customs. Before it ships you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval, and our returns policy applies to every order. The painter’s full offer is in the Edgar Degas gallery, and his life is described in our article about Edgar Degas.

Frequently asked questions

What painting is this?

It is Degas’s interior of about 1868, oil painted on canvas, 81.3 x 114.3 cm, held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art under inventory number 1986-26-10.

Why does the work have two names?

The catalogue raisonné enters it as Intérieur ou Le viol — Interior, or The Rape. The first name describes the room; the second names what is supposed to have happened in it.

What is happening in the scene?

The record does not say. We see a woman turned into the corner, a man at the door and an open box on the table; Degas did not paint the event and did not explain it.

Who are the two people?

They are not named. The record gives neither models nor names.

Why is the work so dark?

Because a single lamp on the table lights it. Everything else depends on that lamp, including both faces, which stay unlit.

Where is the original?

In the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the United States, under inventory number 1986-26-10.

How big is the original?

81.3 x 114.3 cm. Our 114 x 81 cm matches it almost to the centimetre.

Why do sources give two different years?

The museum record gives about 1868; the catalogue raisonné gives about 1874 for the painting itself, while dating the study made for it to 1868–1869. So we print circa 1868 and name both.

Is this a print?

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

Can I have a size that is not on the list?

Yes, we paint to measurement and keep the proportions of the scene as we do.

Is it suitable as a gift?

It is a demanding subject and wants choosing with care; it suits someone who likes narrative scenes. Because every piece is painted to order, allow for the making time; if you would rather leave the choice to the recipient, there is our voucher.

• Subject: a narrow bedroom by the light of one lamp, the woman turned away at the left, the man at the door on the right
• Original: Edgar Degas, oil painted on canvas, 81.3 x 114.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art (1986-26-10)
• Ours: painted by hand in oil, eight sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 100 cm, stretched and framed on request
• Note: our 114 x 81 cm matches the original almost to the centimetre