Edgar Degas
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. His mother died when he was thirteen, leaving his father and several unmarried uncles as his primary influences during youth. After graduation, he enrolled at the Faculty of Law of the University of Paris in November 1853 but applied little effort to his studies. In April 1855, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts where he studied drawing under Louis Lamothe. That same year he met Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, whose advice he never forgot: "Draw lines, young man, and still more lines, both from life and from memory, and you will become a good artist." From 1856 to 1859, Degas traveled to Italy for three years. While staying with his aunt's family in Naples, he made the first studies for The Bellelli Family in 1858. He also drew and painted numerous copies of works by Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian.
Degas began his career wanting to be a history painter, producing works like Alexander and Bucephalus and The Daughter of Jephthah between 1859 and 1860. By the late 1860s, he shifted from history painting to contemporary subjects such as racehorses and ballet dancers. His Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey appeared at the Salon of 1866, signaling this growing commitment to modern life. The change was influenced primarily by Édouard Manet, whom Degas had met in 1864 while copying a Diego Velázquez portrait in the Louvre. After returning to Paris in 1873, he joined a group organizing independent exhibitions known as the Impressionists. He consistently belittled their practice of painting en plein air, stating that if he were the government, he would have gendarmes keep an eye on artists who paint landscapes from nature. He claimed no art was ever less spontaneous than his own work, which resulted from reflection and study of great masters rather than inspiration or temperament. His technique evolved to include vivid colors and bold brushstrokes, yet he always painted indoors using memory, photographs, or live models.
Mlle. Fiocre in the Ballet La Source, exhibited in the Salon of 1868, introduced the subject with which Degas became especially identified: dancers. From 1870 onward, he increasingly painted ballet subjects partly because they sold well and provided needed income after his brother's debts left the family bankrupt. More than half of his works depict dancers, often shown backstage or in rehearsal emphasizing their status as professionals doing a job. He began to paint café life as well, creating works such as Singer with a Glove. His paintings often hinted at narrative content in ambiguous ways; Interior has presented a conundrum to art historians regarding its literary source. The dark palette influenced by Dutch painting gave way to vivid colors and bold brushstrokes. Paintings like Place de la Concorde read as snapshots freezing moments of time to portray them accurately. The lack of color in the 1874 Ballet Rehearsal on Stage linked with his interest in photography. He blurred the distinction between portraiture and genre pieces, viewing musicians in an orchestra pit as though from the perspective of a distracted spectator. His fascination with movement included the movement of a spectator's eyes during a random glance.
Between 1874 and 1886, the group mounted eight art shows known as the Impressionist Exhibitions. Degas took a leading role in organizing these exhibitions and showed his work in all but one despite persistent conflicts with others in the group. He had little in common with Monet and other landscape painters whom he mocked for painting outdoors. Conservative in social attitudes, he abhorred the scandal created by the exhibitions as well as the publicity and advertising colleagues sought. He deeply disliked being associated with the term "Impressionist" which the press had coined and popularized. He insisted on including non-Impressionist artists such as Jean-Louis Forain and Jean-François Raffaëlli in the group's exhibitions. The resulting rancor within the group contributed to its disbanding in 1886. As his financial situation improved through sales of his own work, he was able to indulge his passion for collecting works by artists he admired. Three artists he idolized were Ingres, Delacroix, and Daumier. His contemporaries were well represented except for Monet, by whom he owned nothing.
Degas's only showing of sculpture during his life occurred in 1881 when he exhibited The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years using Marie van Goethem as a model. 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. J.-K. Huysmans wrote that the statuette overturned all notions about cold inanimate whiteness in sculpture. A substantial number of other sculptures remained unseen by the public until a posthumous exhibition in 1918. Neither The Little Dancer nor any other sculptures were cast in bronze during the artist's lifetime. After Degas died, heirs found 150 wax sculptures in his studio many in disrepair. Foundry owner Adrien Hébrard concluded that 74 waxes could be cast in bronze. The Hébrard Foundry cast bronzes from 1919 until 1936 before closing shortly before Hébrard's death. In 2004, a group of 73 plaster casts was presented as discovered among materials bought by Airaindor-Valsuani from Hébrard's descendants. Bronzes cast from these plasters were issued between 2004 and 2016 inconsistently marked and thus of unknown size. Substantial controversy concerns the authenticity of these plasters.
Degas believed that "the artist must live alone, and his private life must remain unknown." He lived an outwardly uneventful life but was known for wit that could often be cruel. George Moore characterized him as an old curmudgeon who deliberately cultivated a reputation as a misanthropic bachelor. In the 1870s he gravitated towards republican circles of Léon Gambetta though signs of prejudice manifested occasionally. He fired a model upon learning she was Protestant. His 1879 painting Portraits at the Stock Exchange is widely regarded as anti-Semitic with facial features directly compared to anti-Semitic cartoons rampant in Paris at the time. The Dreyfus Affair intensified his anti-Semitism from the 1890s to the early 1900s. By the mid-1890s he had broken off relations with all Jewish friends and publicly disavowed previous friendships with Jewish artists. He refused to use models he believed might be Jewish and remained an outspoken anti-Semite until his death. After 1890 his eyesight deteriorated further although he worked in pastel until the end of 1907. He ceased working around 1912 when demolition of his residence on rue Victor Massé forced him to move.
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Common questions
When was Edgar Degas born and where did he grow up?
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.
What subjects did Edgar Degas paint after shifting from history painting?
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.
Why did Edgar Degas dislike the term Impressionist?
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.
Which sculpture did Edgar Degas exhibit during his lifetime?
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.
How did Edgar Degas die and when did he stop working?
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.