[1] It depicts the cigar-smoking Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic, his daughters Eylau and Jeanine, his dog, and a solitary man on the left at Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Notable for its innovative composition, use of negative space, and cropping, the painting reflects influences from photography and contemporary urban transformations during Haussmann's Paris.

[4] The tall, solitary man on the left edge of the painting has been identified as the playwright Ludovic Halévy,[5] who was also a close friend of Degas's until the Dreyfus affair.

The building visible in the background to the left is the Hôtel de la Marine, which at the time housed the French Ministry of the Navy.

[10][11][12] At the time that Degas created the painting, the monument to Strasbourg would have been draped in black to mourn the loss of the city to Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War.

An on location observation of the Place de la Concorde, which has changed very little since the 1870s, from the same vantage point as the painting also reveals that there is a lamp post in the man's position.

[18] Many art historians believe that the large amount of negative space, the cropping, and the way in which the figures are facing in random directions were influenced by photography.

Many of Jouvin's photographs feature human figures and horse drawn carriages that are partially cropped out of frame in a similar manner to Degas's paintings, including Place de la Concorde.

Art historian Kirk Varnedoe argues that while Place de la Concorde features compositional elements such as cropping and asymmetry that resemble photographic techniques, these choices were not directly derived from photography.

Instead, Varnedoe suggests that Degas's use of unconventional framing and perspective reflects a broader tradition of artistic experimentation that predates the widespread influence of photography.

[21] Art historians have frequently noted the dramatic cropping and large amount of negative space in Edgar Degas's Place de la Concorde.

According to Dombrowski, the disconnection between the figures and the vast emptiness of the square suggests not only physical separation but also social and political disunity, emblematic of the challenges faced by the early Third Republic.

The spaciousness and apparent disconnection of the figures may symbolize the restoration of a bourgeois-controlled public space, contrasting sharply with the barricaded and war-torn streets of the Commune era.

In 1994, the Hermitage Museum publicly announced that it was in possession of more than 70 French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings that had been looted from private German collections by the Soviet Union during the war.

[31] In 1995, the Hermitage Museum held an exhibition titled Hidden Treasures Revealed which displayed 74 looted paintings, including Edgar Degas's Place de la Concorde.