Mademoiselle Fiocre in the Ballet La Source by Degas in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2023

Title: Mademoiselle Fiocre in the Ballet "La Source"

Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)

Date: ca. 1867–68

Geography: Country of Origin France

Culture: French

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 51 1/2 × 57 1/8 in., 166 lb. (130.8 × 145.1 cm, 75.3 kg)
Framed: 63 × 69 × 6 1/4 in. (160 × 175.3 × 15.9 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum, Gift of James H. Post, A. Augustus Healy, and John T. Underwood (21.111)


Degas submitted this painting to the 1868 Salon with the title Portrait de Mlle E. F. à propos du ballet ‘La Source,’ referring to Eugénie Fiocre, a famous dancer at the Paris Opera. Although its exhibited title suggests that he intended the work as a portrait, it otherwise gives the impression of a literary or mythological subject. Rather than show the performance, Degas captures the young woman and other dancers at rest during rehearsal, providing little indication of a stage set beyond the pink ballet slippers visible between the horse’s legs.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/844733