Edgar Degas was born in a wealthy family and could afford not to worry about earnings, but to do what he loved. He was an extraordinary person and even decided to change his surname. Being born De Gas, which indicated his noble origin, he chose a more simple surname from the point of view of social status – Degas. However, his affiliation with high society helped his career as an artist. For a long time, he could afford not to sell his artworks.
But when he began to put them up for sale, they could only be seen in the margins of high society. Also, Degas paintings can be seen in the online gallery edgar-degas.org. So what do we know about this interesting man and the wonderful Impressionist artist?
1. Being an Impressionist he worked in a style of Realism
Art historians consider Degas to be the founder of the Impressionist movement. His work was characterized by realism, which contradicted the first. He didn’t approve of the academic Salon art. He loved to capture moments in his paintings and to work in theaters, operas, and cafes. He ridiculed the desire of the Impressionists to work in the open air, believing that open space scatters attention.
2. Degas created historical paintings
Seeking fame, Degas began to turn to historical subjects. These were dark paintings in their color. He didn’t finish any of his historical work. He mixed historical classical painting with elements of modernity of his time. For example, in the picture Exercises of Young Spartans, he neglected historical authenticity. He painted the faces of historical heroes with the features of the well-known youth of the Parisian countryside.
3. Degas belonged to bourgeois circles
Despite his strict style, the artist was close to the sophistication of lace napkins and exquisite couture hats. He liked to visit the shops of milliners. In addition to classical painting, his collection has many works on the hat theme.
4. He was fond of Japanese art and collected engravings ukiyo-e
From 1853 the trade and culture between Japan and Europe were developing. So, Japanese ukiyo-e prints have gained recognition in European countries. Many artists were greatly influenced by the depiction of human forms. Edgar Degas discovered images of geishas and ordinary urban dwellers in Japanese art. His favorite moments were the images of intimate bathing scenes of women and dancers. His ballerinas are characterized by curved lines and faces turned in profile, as well as some other features of the Japanese portrait. But the influence of Japanese engravings in the Bathers painting is especially noticeable. He tried to portray the beauty of beautiful female solitude.
5. At the end of his life, Degas painted almost blindly
During the war, at the age of 36, Degas enlisted as volunteers in the army. He developed a poor vision in his right eye. He began to poorly distinguish colors in the bright light and preferred to work in closed rooms of theater halls. By the age of 57, he could no longer read, and because of this, wider strokes and bold colors began to appear in his works.
6. He took his family out of the debt hole and increased his fortune
After the death of his father and unsuccessful business affairs of his brother on the cotton exchange, the family got into big debts. Degas had to sell his house and an inherited collection of art and his paintings. During this period, the artist began to work incredibly productively.
7. The Cotton Exchange, New Orleans bought by Pau Museum of Fine Arts
Edgar`s grandfather was a broker at the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. This picture reflects the family business run by the artist’s mother’s brother. This painting was the first work of the Impressionist representatives that the museum acquired.
8. Degas was a fan of ballet art
A huge place in the work of Degas occupies the theme of ballet. He painted more than 1,500 works on this subject, which makes up more than half of his work. He tried to convey the fleeting movements of ballet performances, and the hidden life of dancers behind the scenes.
9. He showed drama behind the beautiful life of the ballerinas
As a regular visitor to the backstage, Degas had the opportunity to watch the romantic ballet turning in an obscene cabaret selling girls. The Curtain painting shows young girls and the rich bourgeois watching her like an eagle.
10. Horse racing was another Degas`s passion
Thanks to his passion for conveying movements the artist became interested in galloping horses. He also loved to catch moments of the work of laundresses, bathing, and combing women. His works were sculpturally precise.
11. Degas inspired Pablo Picasso to a series of paintings
Picasso praised Degas paintings with female nude. He created his inquisitive series of erotic women paintings consisting of 12 pieces.
12. He was fond of physiognomy
In the 19th century, it became fashionable to study this science, especially in the field of criminology. Degas also became interested in the study of facial features of people and painted a picture of two criminals. He portrayed two killers in the courtroom.
13. He had a passion for photography
Degas fell in love with the photograph for its transmission of subtle moments. He also loved to learn new techniques. He played with light and the figures in the images seemed to go out of the darkness into the light. The photographs made the compositions of the artist’s paintings unusual. They made it possible to catch the moment that Degas later transferred to the canvas.
14. He was a friend and collaborator of the American Impressionist painter
Mary Cassatt lived about 60 years in France. Thanks to her the works of the French impressionists became known overseas. The first impressionism painting that was seen in America was Edgar Degas`s Rehearsal. In his turn, he invited Kassat to join the group of impressionists and participate in the Salon of Independents, where they exhibited their works. These two artists were friends and even exchanged their work.
The researchers took infrared images of Little Girl in a Blue Armchair by Mary Cassatt and claim to have discovered subtle strokes made by Degas.
15. Degas has become an anti-Semite
In 1894, a scandal erupted in France over Alfred Dreyfus’s high treason charges. He was a French gunner of Jewish descent, but this divided the art society into supporters and opponents of the Jewish nation. Degas belonged to the last. He even broke all relations with Jewish friends and stopped working with Jewish models.
16. He made sculptures from wax, clay, and plasticine
As the artist’s vision deteriorated, he became more interested in sculpture. A complete collection of his works counts about 150 units. After the artist’s death, his heirs cast bronze sculptures to sell them.
17. The only sculpture exhibited by Degas was Little Dancer of Fourteen Years
Besides his talent, Degas was known for his misogyny. When he painted ballerinas, he didn’t see in them either budding talent or charming naivety. He saw the “little rats.” Often the girls were from poor families and entered ballet schools in childhood to support their families later. And the men took advantage of this, corrupting the girls and paying them money for it. The girls were nicknamed “rats” because rats were thought to transmit syphilis at the time.
Knowing the laws of physiognomy, Degas deliberately flattened the girl’s skull and extended her chin on the sculpture so that it looked especially primitive.
Art historians later explored the history of 14-year-old Marie van Gethem posing for this sculpture. A year after the completion of the sculpture, she was gradually lowered her salary and eventually fired. Further, there is no historical information about the life of this girl.
18. Portrait of Degas for the couple Manet was spoiled
Degas presented this picture. It depicts Manet lying lazily on the couch, and his wife playing the piano. The next time Degas came to visit their house, he saw a picture cut on the line of Madame Manet’s face. An angry artist took his painting back and broke with Manet. Knowing Degas’ dislike for women, one can only guess what features he endowed the image of Mane’s wife.
19. Until the end of his days remained lonely
Nothing is known about the personal life of the artist. By his old age, his character completely deteriorated, and he cast away even his friends. He died alone in 1917.
20. Degas was an avid collector
In his lonely home, Degas’s company was in the luxurious and dusty canvases by famous artists of the 19th century. Among them were paintings by his teacher Ingres, Édouard Manet, Van Gogh, Gauguin. In 1918, the collection was sold at auction in separate copies.
21. The most expensive painting in the world belongs to the hand of Degas
His painting Danseuse au Repos was sold for £ 17.6 million ($ 27.9 million). It remained in the original frame of the author’s work.
Degas’s life was controversial. He was a representative of the creative world, a man with a subtle soul, singing all the beauty through his paintings. But at the same time, a demon was inherent in his soul, which excites admirers of his art to this day. Nevertheless, it is worth loving Degas, loving his dramatic ballerinas, looking deeper into his work. It is tempting, of course, to represent people as geniuses or monsters. But the history of art is not so simple.