Le Sacre du Printemps

The image captures dancers in the climactic passage of the first tableau, a scene that epitomises the primal energy and ritualistic atmosphere central to Igor Stravinsky’s score and Vaslav Nijinsky’s choreography. Gross’s focus on movement and gesture reflects the work’s thematic emphasis on renewal and elemental forces.

Rendered in pastel on paper, the drawing employs loose, gestural strokes that suggest motion rather than precise detail. Gross’s use of muted tonal variations and rapid shading creates a sense of immediacy, characteristic of her practice of producing on‑site sketches during rehearsals and performances.

The work belongs to the Valentine Gross Archive (catalogue reference THM/165) in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Department of Theatre and Performance. The archive, assembled from Gross’s sketches, studies and illustrations made between 1909 and 1914, has been catalogued with individual museum numbers and is accessible through the V&A’s online collection database.

Valentine Gross, also known as Valentine Hugo, was a Paris‑based art student who followed the Ballets Russes closely, producing preliminary sketches of rehearsals and performances. Her drawings were later refined into finished pastel or pencil works, some of which appeared in Richard Buckle’s 1971 publication Nijinsky on Stage, providing contemporary visual commentary on the groundbreaking 1913 premiere at the Théâtre des Champs‑Élysées.