The Dance Class (85 x 75 cm, created in 1874, collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris) Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was a French Impressionist painter and an outstanding sculptor. He came from high society. Early on, influenced by Renaissance art, Ingres, and Delacroix, he favored historical paintings with large scenes, such as the classically inspired portrait of the Bellelli family, which is the best example.

Beginning in 1866, he associated with Manet and Zola at the Café Guerbois. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, he left France for New Orleans, USA, where he became the most ardent organizer of exhibitions for the Impressionists. In his artistic creation, he was clearly influenced early on by the classical painting of Ingres, later moving towards a kind of sensitive realism, creating a unique method that synthesized space, light, form, and the expressive language of body movement (early themes included "horse racing" and later a preference for subjects like "ballet," "musicians," and "bathers").

After returning from America in March 1875, Degas set up his studio near the dance classrooms of the Paris Opera. The activities within the opera house became his favored subject matter, and he began his famous "ballet" series; it was there that he made various sketches and preparatory drawings. This painting, "The Dance Class," was completed during this period. In an unusually harmonious composition with diagonal perspective, it simultaneously captures a theatrical atmosphere and various actions and figures. The contrasting colors, space, and bright light are particularly striking.

After visiting Degas's studio, Edmond de Goncourt wrote: "...After so much research, Degas remains so in love with modernity; within it, he immerses himself in the figures of everyday life, from laundresses to the limbs of dancers. Among the works I have seen, his works best grasp the life of modern people and the expression of this life's spirit."