Edgar Degas
Observer of the ballet and the fleeting moment.
Degas exhibited with the Impressionists but called himself a realist. He painted dancers, horse races and cafés with the cropped framing of photography.
Edgar Degas was born in 1834 in Paris into a wealthy banking family. He attended one of the best schools in Paris and began studying law, but abandoned his studies for art. He studied briefly at the École des Beaux-Arts and met his great idol Ingres, who advised him to draw a great deal. From 1856 to 1859 he lived in Italy and copied the masters of the Renaissance.
His first major work was The Bellelli Family, a portrait of his aunt and her family, which is in the Musée d'Orsay. He began with history paintings but soon turned to contemporary life. He helped found the Impressionist exhibitions and took part in seven of the eight, yet called himself a realist. He disliked painting outdoors and preferred the theatre, cafés, racecourses and the ballet.
Degas is best known for his dancers. He depicted them not only on stage but also practising, waiting, stretching and resting. The Dance Class (1874) is in the Musée d'Orsay. L'Absinthe (1875–76), also in the Orsay, shows two lonely people in a café. He used unusual angles, cropped figures and empty spaces, inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and photography. He worked a great deal in pastel, often in several layers, and made monotypes and sculptures.
His wax sculpture Little Dancer Aged Fourteen was shown in 1881 with a real tulle skirt and real hair, and caused astonishment. Bronze casts were made after his death. Degas never married and was known for his sharp tongue. From the 1870s his eyesight deteriorated, and in old age he was almost blind. During the Dreyfus affair he took sides against the Jewish officer and broke with several friends, among them Pissarro.
Degas died in Paris in 1917. He is regarded as one of the greatest draughtsmen of the 19th century. His way of capturing movement and the fleeting moment influenced many, among them Toulouse-Lautrec and Mary Cassatt, who was his close friend.