Ernst Oppler
Les Sylphides (Behind the Scenes)
circa 1915
Oil on canvas
German Dance Archive Cologne / SK Foundation for Culture
The Ballets Russes company was founded in Paris in 1909 by impresario Sergei Diaghilev (1872–1929) with famous ballet stars from the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, such as Tamara Karsavina (1885–1978), Vaslav Nijinsky (1889–1950), and Anna Pavlova (1881–1931), and toured throughout Europe. Ernst Oppler (1867–1929)—whose brother Alexander (1869–1937), a sculptor, was a close acquaintance of Käthe Kollwitz—was one of the artists of the Berlin Secession for whom the Russian dancers’ performance in Berlin in 1909 was a profound experience. Today, he is considered the most important chronicler of stage dance in the 20th century.