Degas at the Opéra, Pauline and Virginie Conversing with Admirers, c. 1876-1877

KAYWIN FELDMAN: This scene shows characters from a somewhat scandalous novel about the fictional Madame and Monsieur Cardinal and their two ballerina daughters. KIMBERLY JONES: And here in this image, we see the two young girls, in their ballet costumes, //surrounded by a group of men wearing their black suits and black hats. KAYWIN FELDMAN: These are the season ticket holders at the Paris Opéra. KIMBERLY JONES: They basically could go anywhere they wanted. And where they usually wanted to go was wherever the ballerinas were. KAYWIN FELDMAN: The novel was written by Degas’s friend, Ludovic Halévy. You may remember seeing his portrait earlier in the exhibition. Inspired by his observations from behind the scenes at the Opéra, Halévy wrote a series of short stories on the exploits of the Cardinal family. These wildly popular tales were irresistible source material for Degas. He interpreted the subject in monotypes, but they were not intended to illustrate Halevy’s text. For Degas, they were a private endeavor that allowed him to experiment. Degas concentrated on the young ballerinas’ interactions with subscribers. KIMBERLY JONES: In Halévy’s stories, he puts a decidedly humorous spin on all of this, //But Degas, in his images, oftentimes really helps to underscore the challenges, how vulnerable these young girls are. Here they are much smaller physically; they’re literally cornered by these men who are looming over them. There is an undercurrent of darkness and vulnerability that Degas very subtly captures. //You do get a sense of the predatory nature of the relationship between these young women and these admirers. KAYWIN FELDMAN: Degas’s use of monotype heightens the stark contrasts. Halls are dimly lit, details are obscured, and the hidden areas of the Paris Opéra are exposed. KIMBERLY JONES: //Notice, for example, the whiteness of the doorways, the light spilling out. Degas created that by using a rag to wipe away all the ink before he //printed the plate to create this very dramatic, very spontaneous image. KAYWIN FELDMAN: Degas produced almost eighty monotypes inspired by Halévy’s Cardinal family stories. Some might have been exhibited during his lifetime, but more likely these bold monotypes were largely a personal enterprise, shared only with his closest friends and not seen by the public until after his death.