"Nothing in art must look like an accident, even movement. "Edgar Degas

Throughout his career, from the 1860s to the last works after 1900, Degas made the Opera the focal point of his work, his "own room". He explores the various spaces - hall and stage, dressing rooms, foyer, dance hall, attaches himself to those who populate them, dancers, singers, musicians, spectators, subscribers in black clothes haunting the wings. This closed universe is a microcosm with infinite possibilities and allows all kinds of experimentation: multiplicity of points of view, contrast of lighting, study of movement and the truth of the gesture.

No book had so far considered the Opera as a whole in Degas' work, studying both the passionate link it had with this house, its musical tastes, but also the infinite resources of this wonderful "toolbox". Through the prism of the Opera, Henri Loyrette redraws a monograph of the man who was perhaps one of the greatest artists of the 19th century.

Exhibition organized by the Museums of Orsay and the Orangery, Paris and the National Gallery of Art, Washington where it will be presented from March 1 to July 5, 2020, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Paris Opera.