Hand-painted ballet shoe worn by Serge Lifar (1905–1986)

Serge Lifar was the original interpreter of the role of Apollo in George Balanchine’s first masterpiece, Apollon Musagète (now called Apollo), choreographed for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Balanchine was just 24 when the work premiered in 1928, promulgating the neoclassicism that would shape 20th-century ballet. Apollo is often called a ballet blanc (“white ballet”), a term typically referring to Romantic-era ballets of the 1800s danced in white. Here it describes not only costume color but also a classical minimalism in choreographic style that became one of Balanchine’s defining traits. French naïve painter André Bauchant designed the ballet’s original costumes, but Diaghilev premiered new versions by Chanel in 1929. Lifar’s shoe, originally hand-painted gold, has long ribbons that could be tied in a crisscross pattern to evoke an ancient Grecian sandal.