Impressionism1870
The Orchestra at the Opera
Edgar Degas
Curator's Eye
"The painting features Désiré Dihau, a bassoonist and friend of the painter, at the center of a tight composition. Around him, real musicians and close associates of Degas form a dark, rigorous mass. Above them, the Opera stage is visible but truncated: only the legs and tutus of the ballerinas are seen, creating a striking contrast between the serious masculine world of the pit and the ethereal feminine universe of the ballet."
A masterpiece of the transition to Impressionism, The Opera Orchestra is a revolutionary work that shifts the viewer's gaze from the stage to the pit. Edgar Degas reinvents the collective portrait by capturing the raw energy and concentration of Paris Opera musicians, while relegating the dancers' performance to a fragmented, luminous background.
Analysis
The deep analysis of this canvas reveals Degas's obsession with modernity and his desire to break with academic conventions. Painted around 1870, this painting is not just a genre scene; it is a psychological study of Parisian urban life. Degas rejects the posed portrait in favor of the snapshot. The style is marked by almost photographic precision in the rendering of instruments and faces, contrasting with the suggestive blur of the stage set.
The historical context is that of the Opéra Le Peletier, before it was destroyed by fire and replaced by the Opéra Garnier. Degas, a regular behind the scenes, seeks to capture "behind the curtain." This is not a full orchestra, but a clever montage of portraits. Degas's technique, using thin but dense layers of paint, allows him to render the texture of the wood of the instruments and the shine of the black tuxedos. The light comes from the stage, creating inverted reflections on foreheads and instruments.
On a mythological and symbolic level, although the work is realistic, it evokes a modern descent into the underworld. The pit is an underground space, dark and cluttered, where the musicians, like workers of art, support the celestial world of the dancers through their effort. It is a reflection on the hierarchy of arts and sexes in the 19th century. The psychology of the work lies in the isolation of each musician despite physical proximity; each face is a study of internal concentration.
Finally, this work marks the growing influence of Japanese prints on Degas. The bold framing, where objects are cut clean at the edges of the canvas, creates a feeling of extension of space beyond the frame. This forces the viewer to immerse themselves in the pit, sharing the narrowness and tumult of the orchestra. Degas transforms a friendly commission into an aesthetic manifesto on the fragmented vision of the modern world.
One of the best-kept secrets of the painting lies in Degas's manipulation of reality: it is not an exact representation of the orchestra pit of the time. Although Désiré Dihau was indeed a bassoonist at the Opera, many of the "musicians" surrounding him were actually friends of Degas who did not play in this orchestra at all, such as the amateur painter Albert Hecht. Degas created a "fake" orchestra to honor his inner circle, transforming a documentary scene into a private circle of artistic sociability.
A major technical discovery was made during laboratory analyses: Degas enlarged the canvas while it was in progress. Initially, the painting was a smaller portrait focused on Dihau. The artist added strips of canvas on the sides and at the top to include the dancers and other musicians. This structural modification proves that the inclusion of the stage was not the initial project, but a brilliant intuition to create that contrast of planes for which the work is now world-famous.
A mystery hangs over the identity of the dancer in the pink tutu in the background, whose head is cut off. Some historians see in this a sharp critique by Degas toward the cult of personality of "stars." By decapitating the dancers, he reduces them to pure form and movement, refusing to give them the individuality he grants so generously to the musicians. It is a gesture of radical subversion placing craftsmanship above appearance.
Finally, the instruments themselves contain curious details. Dihau's bassoon is rendered with such precision that musicologists have been able to identify the exact model used at the time. However, the spatial arrangement of the instruments is physically impossible in a real Opera pit; the double basses and the bassoon could not be so close without obstructing each other. Degas sacrificed topographical truth for the plastic strength and emotional density of his composition.
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