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The Bellelli Family

Edgar Degas, 19th century

The Bellelli Family is a large group portrait by Edgar Degas, held in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay. It shows the artist's aunt, her husband and their two young daughters in a quiet domestic interior. The longer you look, the more the family seems to stand apart.

Where to see it

The Bellelli Family belongs to the Musée d'Orsay, and the fact sheet gives the Musée d'Orsay as its location. Display arrangements can change because of rehangs, conservation or loans, so check the Musée d'Orsay's official website for current display status before you visit. At 200 cm high and 253 cm wide, the canvas is big enough that it is worth seeing both from across the room and from close up.

What to look for in person

A family arranged in separate zones

Start by noticing where each person sits or stands. The mother is upright on the left, one hand resting on her elder daughter's shoulder. The father sits at the right, turned largely away from the viewer, in an armchair. The younger daughter perches between them, half on a chair, as if belonging to neither side. Table edges, the fireplace and chair backs act as dividers. Rather than a warm, gathered group, Degas presents a household in which distance between people is part of the subject.

Black mourning dress and the portrait on the wall

Look at the contrast between the mother's dark dress and the pale pinafores worn by the girls. The mother, Laura Bellelli, is shown in mourning for her father, Degas's grandfather. Behind her, a small framed portrait of him hangs on the wall, adding a quiet reference to the family member who is absent. The tall, still silhouette of the mother gives the left side of the canvas a weight that the rest of the composition is balanced against.

Small details at the edges

Once you have taken in the figures, scan the room itself. A mirror above the fireplace reflects part of the space, adding depth and a hint of the room beyond the frame. Patterned wallpaper and carpet fill the background with a steady rhythm. At the lower right edge, a dog is cut off by the frame, showing only part of its body. This kind of cropping, which makes a scene feel caught rather than posed, became characteristic of Degas's later work.

About the painting

The Bellelli Family is one of Edgar Degas's early major works, a 19th-century portrait made on a scale usually associated with official or historical subjects. The sitters are members of the artist's own family: his paternal aunt Laura, her husband Baron Gennaro Bellelli, and their daughters Giovanna and Giulia. Degas spent time with the family in Florence, and the painting grew out of that stay and the many studies he made of its members.

What makes the picture rewarding to stand in front of is its restraint. Degas does not flatter the family with a cheerful, unified grouping. Instead the mother and father occupy opposite sides of the canvas, their gazes do not meet, and the children are positioned between them. Art historians widely read the composition as an image of strained domestic relations, built through placement, posture and glance rather than through any dramatic action.

The painting also shows Degas absorbing earlier traditions while pointing toward his own later interests. The careful drawing of the faces and the sober palette recall the portrait traditions he studied, while the off-centre arrangement, the reflected space in the mirror and the cropped dog at the edge suggest the interest in unusual viewpoints and everyday moments that would run through his later depictions of dancers, laundresses and city life.

The canvas measures 200 by 253 centimetres, so the figures appear close to life size. Give yourself time to move from the overall arrangement to the individual faces, especially the two girls, whose expressions differ noticeably from each other.

Key facts

More by Edgar Degas

• L'Absinthe — Musée d'Orsay
• The Tub — Musée d'Orsay
• A Cotton Office in New Orleans
• L'Orchestre de l'Opéra — Musée d'Orsay
• Ballet Rehearsal on Stage — Musée d'Orsay

Sources

• Wikidata Q2622172
• billetterie.musee-orsay.fr
• www.musee-orsay.fr