In the late summer of 1885, a group of friends gathered in the popular resort town of Dieppe on the Normandy Coast of France. With its beachfront promenade and sprawling chalets, Dieppe was a chic destination for artists and writers.

The summer of 1885 was like many others, but for one remarkable souvenir – Edgar Degas’s “Six Friends at Dieppe,” a dramatic pastel portrait representing key members of the artist’s milieu: librettist Ludovic Halévy; his son Daniel; theater and concert censor Alfred Boulanger-Cavé; French artists Jacques-Emile Blanche and Henri Gervex; and British painter Walter Sickert.

From September 16 through January 15, the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, will present “Edgar Degas: Six Friends at Dieppe,” an exhibition centered around this exceptional group portrait. Maureen O’Brien, curator of painting and sculpture at the museum, proposes “Six Friends at Dieppe,” with its dramatic perspectives, as a lens through which to view both the lives and works of the individual subjects and the atmosphere of this lively resort town.

Anchored by a single work of art, which is in RISD’s permanent collection, the exhibition includes more than 70 artworks by Degas and his contemporaries, including books, letters and other supporting documentation. On display are drawings and paintings by Blanche, Gervex and Sickert, all respected artists in their own right; photographs of the protagonists taken by Degas and Walter Barnes; and a group of rare monotypes Degas completed as illustrations for Ludovic Halévy’s fictional behind-the-scenes tale of the Paris ballet, “La Famillie Cardinal.” Additionally, the museum will present its complete collection of drawings, painting and sculpture by Degas.

The museum is fortunate to have this masterpiece in its permanent collection. Acquired in 1931, “Six Friends at Dieppe” measures 451/4 by 28 inches, unusually large for Degas’s pastel drawings. Sketched from life, the pastel bears no traces of fixative, making transport of the work prohibitive. While this portrait has been reproduced in many books, only in Providence can one see “Six Friends” firsthand

RISD Museum is at 224 Benefit Street. For information, www.risdmuseum.org or 401-454-6500.