For art lovers and ballet fans alike you are going to love the exhibition about to open at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Not only do you get to see beautiful paintings but the exhibition shows the fascinating studies made by Degas on movement of the human body. Insightful and educational you will get to see the progress made with the inclusion of camera and film work.

This is an absolute must see, I loved it and it had nothing to do with the fact that I have been a fan of Degas for what seems like forever because of my own ballet and dance aspirations.

This is an amazing collection that has taken years to put together due to the artwork being owned by various private and public bodies around the world and I am sure it will be the only time ever that it will be possible to see this number of Degas’ paintings and drawings in one place. So delicate are some of the sketches that they can only be exposed to light for a certain time, hence the exhibition is only on from the 17th September until 11th December 2011.

A member of the impressionists Degas became well known for stepping away from the ‘norm’ and focusing on painting dancers. In fact his desire was to study movement rather than stills. He also produced several waxwork statues which can be seen in the exhibition.

What also made my day was Darcy Bussell talking about several of the paintings because she is patron of the exhibition.

If you do get to go, and I would highly recommend it, then look out for my two favourite paintings there, The ballet rehearsal and Ballet scene from Meyerbeers opera ‘Robert le Diable’ shown below

Tickets and more information is available on the Royal Academy of Arts website but hurry because it won’t be there for long.

The exhibition is sponsored by BNY Mellon and supported by Region Holdings and the Blavatnik Family Foundation