Actresses in Their Dressing Rooms

Actresses in Their Dressing Rooms is a key print by Edgar Degas, created between 1879 and 1880. This classification is specified as the fourth state of five, executed using the demanding process of etching and aquatint. Degas was an innovator in printmaking, often revisiting his plates and experimenting with different tonal ranges and compositions across successive states. This work exemplifies his fascination with capturing private moments, moving beyond the public spectacle of the stage. The medium allowed him to explore nuanced light and shadow, essential for depicting the intimate, working atmosphere of the actresses’ dressing rooms.

As a foundational figure of Impressionism and Realism, Degas specialized in capturing Parisian modern life, particularly focusing on women engaged in various forms of performance or labor. Unlike the glamorous, idealized views of public performance often favored by his contemporaries, this piece grants the viewer access to the behind-the-scenes activities and the everyday demands placed upon the professional actresses depicted here. Degas frequently used etching and other print techniques to capture the specific effects of artificial stage lighting and the blurred forms characteristic of hurried, offstage movement.

This important graphic work is part of the extensive collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it serves as a critical example of late 19th-century French art. This focus on the hidden labor of women workers remains a central theme in the artist’s broader oeuvre. High-quality prints of this subject are widely available, allowing for broader study of Degas's technical experimentation within the printmaking tradition.