Short answers, pulled from the story.
Edgar Degas was born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas on the 19th of July 1834 in Paris, France. He entered the Lycée Louis-le-Grand at age eleven and graduated with a baccalauréat in literature by 1853.
By the late 1860s, Edgar Degas shifted from history painting to contemporary subjects such as racehorses and ballet dancers. More than half of his works depict dancers, often shown backstage or in rehearsal emphasizing their status as professionals doing a job.
Edgar Degas deeply disliked being associated with the term Impressionist which the press had coined and popularized. He consistently belittled the practice of painting en plein air and insisted on including non-Impressionist artists in the group's exhibitions.
Edgar Degas exhibited The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years using Marie van Goethem as a model in 1881. This nearly life-size wax figure featured real hair and a cloth tutu, provoking strong reactions from critics who found its realism extraordinary yet denounced the dancer as ugly.
Edgar Degas ceased working around 1912 when demolition of his residence on rue Victor Massé forced him to move. He died after 1907 following years of deteriorating eyesight that prevented him from continuing his work in pastel.