3-083-724 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Theatre De L'opera "Carnival 1892 Samedi 27 Fevrier 3e Bal Masque, 1892. The Paris Carnival happens immediately after the Feast of Fools every year. At the street procession, people wear their masks in disguise. At the Theatre de l'Opera, the audience pit was cleared for dancing and the orchestra itself provided waltzes, mazurkas and even the controversial cancan. The ladies at the Carnival wore masks and dressed up as stevedores and shepherdesses. Their glamorous costumes revealed more of their figures than normal dress permitted and also allowed them to dance with abandon. Their reputation is protected by small masks that gave the illusion of anonymity. Men might dance, but mostly they watched and hoped to arrange a post-bal rendezvous.