| Degas was born into a well-to-do
banking family on July 19, 1834, in Paris. He studied at the École des
Beaux-Arts under a disciple of the famous French classicist J. A. D.
Ingres, where Degas developed the great drawing ability that was to be a
salient characteristic of his art. After 1865, under the influence of
the budding impressionist movement, he gave up academic subjects to turn
to contemporary themes. But, unlike the impressionists, he preferred to
work in the studio and was uninterested in the study of natural light
that fascinated them. He was attracted by theatrical subjects, and most
of his works depict racecourses, theatres, cafés, music halls, or
boudoirs. Degas was a keen observer of humanity—particularly of women,
with whom his work is preoccupied—and in his portraits as well as in his
studies of dancers, milliners, and laundresses, he cultivated a complete
objectivity, attempting to catch his subjects in poses as natural and
spontaneous as those recorded in action photographs.
Degas was not well known to the public,
and his true artistic stature did not become evident until after his
death. He died in Paris on September 27, 1917. |
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