The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 17, 2026

Actresses in Their Dressing Rooms

1879–80

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
France
etching and aquatint on Arches laid paper
Platemark: 15.9 x 21 cm (6 1/4 x 8 1/4 in.); Sheet: 21.6 x 30.5 cm (8 1/2 x 12 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2023.155
Catalogue raisonné: Delteil 28; Adhémar 31; Stern and Shapiro 50
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This print is one of several that Edgar Degas created by etching and printing a plate typically used to create daguerreotypes—a form of early photography.

Description

Although best-known for colorful paintings and pastels depicting the Paris of his time, Edgar Degas was simultaneously an incredibly innovative printmaker. Created during the artist’s most prolific period in etching, this print depicts two actresses preparing for a performance in adjoining dressing rooms. Degas used the walls, curtains, and artificial lighting within the space to create a dense and mazelike composition.
  • ?-?
    Given by Edgar Degas [1834–1917], Paris, to Jean-François Raffaëlli
    ?-?
    Jean-François Raffaëlli [1850-1912], Paris
    ?–1991
    (Galerie Sagot-Le Garrec, Paris, sold to Samuel Josefowitz)
    1991–2015
    Samuel Josefowitz [1921–2015], Pully, Switzerland, by descent
    2015–23
    Josefowitz family collection
    2023
    (sale, Christie’s, Paris, “La Collection Sam Josefowitz: Vente du soir,” October 20, 2023, no. 119, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2023–
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Minder, Nicole, Eric Gillis, Richard R. Brettell, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro. Degas & Pissarro: alchimie d'une rencontre. Exh. Cat. Vevey: Cabinet cantonal des estampes, Musée Jenisch, 1998. Mentioned: pp. 74, 86, no. 63; Reproduced: p. 86.
  • {{cite web|title=Actresses in Their Dressing Rooms|url=false|author=Edgar Degas|year=1879–80|access-date=17 March 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.155