Degas and the Nude, exhibition

From Tuesday, March 13 2012 to Sunday, July 1 2012

A masterful vision of the body.

This is the first major exhibition to be devoted to Edgar Degas (1834-1917) in Paris since the 1988 retrospective at the Grand Palais. Degas and the nude ties in with the Musée d'Orsay's ambition to publicise the latest teachings on the great masters of the late nineteenth century, and follows the institution's homage to Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Edouard Manet (1832-1883).

This exhibition explores the evolution of Degas in the practice of the nude throughout the artist's long career, from an academic approach and the history of its beginnings to the point at which the body shifts into modernity.

Occupying with his dancers and horses a prominent position in the work of the artist, the nude is presented in all of the techniques practiced by the artist, painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking and especially pastel, in which he would achieve his highest degree of perfection.

Take this opportunity to see in one place a selection of some of the very best works of this much-loved artist, works which have been lent by some of the greatest museums all around the world.