Degas À l'Opera, musee d'Orsay

Can you ever see too many Degas dancers? The new exhibition, DEGAS À L'OPERA opened on Tuesday. I ran and arrived just in time to sneak in the back end at The ORSAY before closing.

The colors! And extra long compositions with a diagonal slant to them.

Astonishing combinationsof Vermillion red, viridian blue-green, yellow ochre combine to create magic.

Degas would put down a layer of pastel color. Then spray it with fixative before laying another color on top. We used those same little bent metal pipes in art school  to fix our charcoal drawing. The smell was horrendous. I stopped immediately and switched to watercolor merci deux.

In 1899 he invited Julie Manet (daughter of Berthe Morisot) to visit his studio to see "some orgies of color I'm doing right now".  She was surprised and wrote in her diary (I saw a copy at my bouquiniste) "he never shows what he is doing". He was always a private insular man.

Degas planted himself at the Opera Garnier, backstage, front and center, sketching during rehearsals (every artist's dream).

He was around to sketch the gentleman admirers, top-hatted in tails, waiting for the teenage ballerinas to accompany them to dinner etc. after the performance. Epstein's keen interest in young schoolgirls isn't something new. Rodin too surrounded himself with young Indonesian dancers.

A box at the opera painted by Degas in orange reds and olive greens. The Orsay exhibit is a collaborative effort to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Opera Garnier, where the dancers performed.

Try the tour at the opera when you're in Paris. Always thrilling. The Degas/Orsay exhibit is on through January. Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast and pleas share with a friend. You can receive Paris letters in your mailbox 📮. Take look on ETSY . Cheers Carolg and 🐻 in Paris