Great Paintings- Degas' "Dancing Class"

My knowledge of painting is somewhat limited, but I've recently been trying to learn. I'm going to try and post a painting each week. I'll start with Degas.

Degas loosely falls within the 'Impressionist" movement but differs greatly from contemporaries such as Monet, Sisley, and Pissarro. From what I've gathered, what bring these painters together is their attempts at capturing fleeting moments or snapshots of the flux of life. They tended to ignore naturalistic representations by leaving their paintings in sketch-like states and by using broad, recognizable brush strokes. What sets Degas apart from the others is his use of perspective. In "Dancing Class," Degas avoids frontality by creating a skewed perspective from above and by not relegating any of the dancers to the center of the frame. He also expands the canvas by creating off-screen space through the use of the mirror in the top-left corner. Many interpret the painting as a depiction of boredom, in which the ballerinas are removed from the performance stage.

Such a interpretation is not wrong per se, but seems a bit shortsighted. Degas takes the glamour and mysticism away from the image of the ballerina by depicting the monotonous nature of practice. What is of interest here though is the grouping of the ballerinas. Some share similar gestures while at rest, others are depicted in the midst of practice, and others observe the action. The composition of the frame depicts the individual nature of performance within the context of a group with shared interests. The dancer to the slight right of the center is in mid-action while the old ballet master looks on. Others look on or go about their own practice but are bound by their shared costumes. Each go about their own habits but are still part of the larger dynamics of the group. Interestingly, what sets Degas apart from the American tradition is that he imagines the possibility of individual expression only when removed from community. Besides the instructor, no eyes are fixed on the dancing ballerina.

Compare this with "Dancer with Bouquet" which brings the point home a bit clearer. In this painting, a dancer curtsies in the front of the frame, while the rest of the dancers are relegated to the background and painted with less detail. Also in "Dance Greenroom", the ballerina to the left is singled out from the group by her relaxed grace and reflection in the mirror.