Painted as part of series of dancing subjects, Ballet Rehearsal is the work of an artist who has become closely identified with the theme of capturing movement – more than half of all of his works depict dancers. Preferring to be identified as a Realist rather than an Impressionist, Degas captured the effects of bodily movement in the same way that Monet and Renoir replicated the shimmering effects of light on water. His works reveal a psychological depth and a profound sense of isolation and existential loneliness. Originally intending to be a history painter, Degas quickly changed track and became in the eyes of many the most accomplished painter of the experience of modern life. Certainly standing out from his Impressionist contemporaries who tended to divorce themselves from the pace of the city, Degas immersed himself in the complexities of contemporary life. His studies of ballet and its dancers are the resultant force of his truly idiosyncratic approach to composition and design.