ONE of Edgar Degas's most famous artworks is to arrive back in Glasgow after a world tour.

The Rehearsal is making its final international appearance before returning home to be redisplayed at the Burrell Collection as part of the museum’s £66 million transformation.

The work is currently on view as part of the acclaimed exhibition Degas at the Opéra at The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Paris Opéra's founding, the exhibition features approximately 100 of the artist's best-known and beloved paintings, pastels, drawings, prints, and sculpture.

Shipping magnate Sir William Burrell amassed one of the finest collections of Degas’ art in the world; comprising pastels, oils and drawings and encompassing every period of the artist’s career.

The artworks form part of the Collection of 9000 objects including tapestries, stained glass, sculpture, and paintings that Burrell gifted to the city of Glasgow in 1944.

Known as an artistic innovator, breaking new ground in his use of oil and pastels, Degas was known to have destroyed works to strictly control which artworks reached the public domain.

Even after his death, works found in his studio were destroyed by his family to protect the artist’s reputation.

This makes it all the more remarkable for Sir William Burrell to have acquired multiple pieces by the artist, collecting at a time when many of Degas’ work shocked the art world.