1870 (ca.), Edgar Degas, Musicians in the Orchestra (Portrait of Désiré Dihau) -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label: Edgar Degas was a core member and organizer of the Impressionists, a group of painters who shocked the Paris art world with their unidealized representations of modern city life. Though created before the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874, Musicians in the Orchestra anticipates the group's unconventional compositions and preoccupation with movement, displayed here in the cropped focus of the Paris Opera's orchestra pit, bustling with frenetic brushwork. Degas, a frequent visitor to the Opera, made many studies of its entertainers. One of the Opera's bassoonists, Désiré Dihau, depicted here in profile, was also the artist's friend.
1870 (ca.), Edgar Degas, Musicians in the Orchestra (Portrait of Désiré Dihau) -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label: Edgar Degas was a core member and organizer of the Impressionists, a group of painters who shocked the Paris art world with their unidealized representations of modern city life. Though created before the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874, Musicians in the Orchestra anticipates the group's unconventional compositions and preoccupation with movement, displayed here in the cropped focus of the Paris Opera's orchestra pit, bustling with frenetic brushwork. Degas, a frequent visitor to the Opera, made many studies of its entertainers. One of the Opera's bassoonists, Désiré Dihau, depicted here in profile, was also the artist's friend.