Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey

This large, ambitious work from the National Gallery of Art was Degas's most ambitious sporting scene: begun in 1866 as a steeplechase painting in the academic tradition but reworked over decades, with the fallen jockey added later as the emotional focus. The painting existed in multiple states and was significantly transformed by Degas, reflecting his lifelong habit of revising and reworking canvases. The fallen jockey — lying on the ground while horses career past — introduces an element of tragedy and danger into what might otherwise be a fashionable genre scene. Horse racing at Longchamp was one of the central spectacles of Second Empire Paris, and Degas's steeplechase paintings occupy an important position in his documentation of modern leisure.

The composition is unusually panoramic, with horses arranged across a wide horizontal field. Degas uses dry, matte brushwork in the landscape passages and more fluid, assured handling in the horses. The fallen jockey's red jacket creates a vivid chromatic accent against the grey-green turf.