When Edgar Degas first exhibited Gentlemen's Race. Before the Start in Paris in 1862, it was among the earliest works to reveal his fascination with the world of horse racing—a theme that would become a lifelong obsession. This painting stands at the threshold of a new era in French society, when the English-style racetrack at Longchamp had just opened its gates to Parisian high society, and the sport was rapidly becoming a fashionable spectacle.

The scene captures not the race itself, but the charged anticipation moments before, an unusual choice at a time when most artists favored the drama of the finish line. Degas’s decision to focus on the prelude, rather than the climax, signaled his interest in the psychology of both horse and rider. On the canvas, a cluster of elegantly dressed jockeys and their restless mounts wait at the starting line, poised in a moment of tense stillness. The horses, depicted with acute observation, shift and fidget, their muscles taut beneath glossy coats, while the gentlemen riders exchange glances and adjust their reins.

The low horizon and expansive sky place the figures in a broad, open landscape, heightening the sense of expectation. Degas’s loose, almost sketch-like brushwork hints at movement about to erupt, echoing the fleeting impression of a moment observed in passing. Unlike Théodore Géricault’s heroic equestrian portraits, which emphasize drama and power, Degas’s scene is intimate and psychological, inviting the viewer to feel the collective breath held before the thunder of hooves. The whereabouts of Gentlemen's Race.

Before the Start have sometimes been uncertain, as with several of Degas’s early works, which were often sold to private collectors and occasionally misattributed due to his evolving style. Today, it is recognized as a key example of his early engagement with modern life and the influence of English sporting art, which he studied during his visits to London. The painting marks a turning point in Degas’s career, foreshadowing his later, more famous explorations of movement and anticipation in both horse racing and ballet.

Its journey from the Parisian salons of the 1860s to the digital galleries of the present day reflects the enduring fascination with moments of suspense and the subtle drama of everyday spectacle.