Edgar Degas French Realist/Impressionist Painter and Sculptor ( )

Name: Hilaire- Germain-Edgar Degas Born: Paris, France 19 July 1834 Died: Paris, France 27 September 1917 Edgar Degas was born in Paris on July 19, He was born to a family of aristocrats, and like every privileged child at the time, he was exposed to the finer things in life. Ballet, opera, art, music were all part of his staple. His father, a banker, had aspirations of seeing Edgar as a lawyer. Degas even enrolled in law school for a brief period after secondary school, but fate had things planned. Edgar’s idol was the painter Jean Auguste Ingres, whose example pointed him in the direction of a classical draftsmanship, stressing balance and clarity of outline. After beginning his artistic studies with Louis Lamothes, a pupil of Ingres, he started classes at the Ecole des Beaux Arts but left in 1854 and went to Italy. He stayed there for 5 years, studying Italian art, especially Renaissance works.

Edgar Degas Art The art of Degas reflects a concern for the psychology of movement and expression and the harmony of line and continuity of contour. These characteristics set Degas apart from the other impressionist painters.Or it in other words, Degas’s view of impressionism was different from other painters of his era. He was not fascinated by nature and the outdoors, he would much rather observe the human condition and with his brush strokes, incorporate it’s intricacies into every one of his paintings. He confined himself to working in studios, often staying indoors for days at a stretch. Many critics think twice before classifying Degas as an impressionist. Indeed, he himself called himself a “realist with contemporary subjects”. It would be fair to say that in Degas’s evolution that was seen an emergence of a new, alternative impressionism. Degas was acknowledged as the master of drawing the human figure in motion. Degas worked in many mediums, preferring pastel to all others. He is perhaps best known for his paintings, drawings, and bronzes of ballerinas and of race horses.

Edgar Degas Art Degas painted portraits of his family and friends (when back in Paris,1859) and a number of historical subjects, in which he combined classical and romantic styles. In Paris, Degas came to know Edouard Manet,and in the late 1860s he turned to contemporary themes, painting both theatrical scenes and portraits with a strong emphasis on the social and intellectual implications of props and setting. In the early 1870s the female ballet dancer became his favorite theme. He sketched from a live model in his studio and combined poses into groupings that depicted rehearsal and performance scenes in which dancers on stage, entering the stage, and resting or waiting to perform are shown simultaneously and in counterpoint, often from an oblique angle of vision.

On a visit in 1872 to Louisiana, where he had relatives in the cotton business, he painted The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans (finished 1873; Musée Municipal, Pau, France), his only picture to be acquired by a museum in his lifetime. Other subjects from this period include the racetrack, the beach, and cafe interiors. The Cotton Exchange in New Orleans 1873 Oil on canvas Edgar Degas Art

Works of Art Degas spent many years of his career painting scenes from history. Even though the subjects seemed inadequate to him, they were some of his most popular paintings. An example of his popularity was his painting based on biblical history, 'Daughter of Jephthah’, which was based on an incident from the Old Testament. The painting garnered rave reviews, and to date is regarded as one of Degas's finest.

Works of Art An example of his portraiture is 'The Bellelli Family‘ which he painted in Degas's early years as a classical draftsman gave him the ability to paint the human form with effortless ease.

Works of Art Degas's obsession with movement manifest itself in his various paintings of horses. ‘Race Horses’, arguably the most famous fruit of this equestrian obsession, now rests in the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Works of Art His most famous subjects are undoubtedly the young ballerinas that caught his artistic eye in the later stages of his career.One of his most famous paintings is ‘Dance class at the Opera’ which he painted in The painting, which now hangs at the Musйe d'Orsay in Paris is a perfect example of Degas’s fluid style.

Works of Art Degas’s apparent schizophrenic opinion of women has puzzled art critics to this day. He was a self-acknowledged misogynist and yet the female form was his favorite subject. He was able to bring out from within his female subjects a quality that the lesser, more mortal admirer can only marvel at. Les repasseuses, or ‘ Woman Ironing’ is one of Degas’s most famous feminine subjects. It was painted in 1888, and rests among many other Degas masterpieces at the Musee d'Orsay, Paris.