Degas at the Opéra, Study of a Theatre Box, 1880

KIMBERLY JONES: We see a woman gazing downwards from the opera box. We are below looking up at her. Her face is illuminated by the footlights, giving it this strange ghostly white quality. KAYWIN FELDMAN: Degas rarely depicted actual audiences but he does here. This woman sits in a loge or opera box. At the Paris Opéra, these elevated enclosures were the only places where women were permitted to sit. The location made them visible, but also gave them a sweeping view of the theater. This woman gazes down at us in more ways than one. She would have been a woman from a well-to-do family. KIMBERLY JONES: And Degas plays up that kind of psychological distance, showing her aloof and alone in that box, surrounded by shadows, only her pale moon face gleaming out of the darkness. KAYWIN FELDMAN: There was little novelty within the opera schedule from season to season. The same limited repertoire was performed over and over again. KIMBERLY JONES: //The operas themselves were very traditional, and repetitive. //So the real allure for most people was going to see who was in the boxes. //It was kind of like a sporting event for the upper classes in Paris, and that wonderful sense of being noticed, and seeing who else was there and who wasn’t there. KAYWIN FELDMAN: Nearby, in the pastel titled Theater Box, Degas changes the viewpoint. He now has us peering over a woman’s shoulder to watch a performance, masterfully condensing the space between the spectator and the spectacle. Take a look and compare