Pictures At An Orchestra Rehearsal

a brushy painting of an orchestra rehearsing in the round in a steep amphitheater, their sheet music the only clear things among a foggy blur, and three lazy clowns sitting in the foreground, by john singer sargent
John Singer Sargent, Rehearsal of the Pasdeloup Orchestra at the Cirque d’Hiver, 1879, 93 x 73 cm, on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago

John Singer Sargent made these two vertiginous paintings of orchestra rehearsals in the Cirque d’Hiver when he was in his early 20s. The wild grisaille one at the MFA Boston, tighter, and without the lounging clowns, is thought to be influenced by a similar monochrome rehearsal study by Degas, whose work Sargent knew.

a blurry grisaille wash painting of an orchestra rehearsal, from a cheap seat, all the musicians a blur of black, with sharp, thin brushstrokes picking out the bare reflections of light on brass instruments, and the white sheet music providing the dominant geometric motif. by john singer sargent.
Rehearsal of the Pasdeloup Orchestra at the Cirque d’Hiver, 1879-80, 57 x 46cm, collection, MFA Boston

The extended text at the MFA Boston makes it sound like Sargent whipped out a canvas in the middle of rehearsal and just started painting. It does look that way, though the Art Institute canvas is almost a meter tall. They’re both at the Met rn for the Sargent in Paris show.