The Parade (Race Horses in Front of the Stands), c.1866/68 Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting The Parade (Race Horses in Front of the Stands) is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

After adding your artwork to the shopping cart, you will be able to check the delivery price using the Estimate Shipping and Tax tool.

The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

The scene unfolds on a broad stretch of turf, where several riders on horseback gather before a low, rustic grandstand brimming with spectators. One rider, his back turned and figure silhouetted by the bright sky, anchors the left side of the picture. Farther right, a handful of jockeys prepare their mounts, while in the distance, a final horse prances restlessly, capturing the viewer’s attention with its taut energy. The grandstand is rendered in a warm, muted ochre, and the bustling crowd is suggested with deft strokes, parasols and top hats melting into one another as if viewed in passing.

The color palette is restrained yet purposeful. Earthy browns dominate the horses and riders’ apparel, while the grass shimmers with subdued green that shifts in hue under the gentle sunlight. Splashes of bold color are confined to the jockeys’ shirts, but these too are toned down to avoid calling out any specific owner or stable. This careful handling of color reflects the artist’s interest in refining form and light rather than spotlighting the standard trappings of a sporting event.

Throughout the composition, the brushwork varies from succinct outlines to more suggestive passages. Near the crowd, it becomes hazy and loosely articulated, allowing shapes to merge subtly. Yet the riders’ silhouettes remain distinct, indicative of a measured balance between depiction and omission. The resulting effect conveys not only the spirited ambiance of the racecourse, but also a certain transitory mood, as if we are witnessing a moment poised on the brink of movement. The painter’s selection of materials and deliberate layering of pigments demonstrate his wish to capture flickering impressions rather than the pomp of a fully defined narrative.

Compositionally, strong diagonals lead the viewer’s eye from the grandstand, across the line of jockeys, and toward the vanishing point at the center, where the final horse creates a pivot of tension. This recurring diagonal motif underscores a sense of depth and motion, drawing attention to the moment before the race commences. In doing so, the picture emphasizes the anticipation shared by both riders and onlookers, in an era when racecourses were popular social hubs. The depiction of racehorses, shaped by traditions from earlier European masters and contemporary British influences, is here synthesized into a modern scene that privileges the everyday gesture over grand spectacle. The resulting work reveals an artist who, while inspired by centuries of equestrian imagery, reinvents his subject matter to reflect both the pace and poise of late 19th-century life.