art-Degas.com
Edgar Degas 1834-1917
Edgar Degas - Before the Race 1889
 Before the Race |
From Cleveland Museum of Art:
Like his attraction to the theater and the ballet, Degas’s enduring fascination with the races revealed his interest in addressing moments of reflection or anticipation in the midst of urban life. His racecourse subjects seldom depict the race itself and never the finish line. Instead, he focused on moments of rest or transition, such as the tense moments before a start, showing jockeys and horses in suspended motion, seemingly haphazardly dispersed across the canvas or page.