Edgar Degas

By: Jessi Honeycutt

Due: 23 July 2014
Art 1010 summer semester
Ms. McKay





































Art is not what you see, but what you make others see

Edgar Degas, a French impressionist painter in the late 19th century, is known
most famously for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas focused largely
on movement, and the majority of his pieces were of dancers. Although he rejected the
term impressionist and instead called himself a realist, his works were some of the most
influential of the time period. Although his name is not as famously known compared to
Van Gogh or Manet, Degas work is readily recognizable and familiar. As an artist he
didnt only paint what he saw, but the feelings and the emotions of both the subject and
the viewer. It was purely coincidental that I chose to do my artist research on Degas,
and I was surprised that although I did not recognize his name, I was familiar with some
of his pieces such as Dancers in Pink painted in 1885. The pre-conceived ideas that I
had before starting the research of Edgar Degas was mainly that his work mirrored that
of other impressionist artists; simply speaking that his paintings were full of color,
emotion, light-flowing brush strokes, using light etc. When I started the research, I
expected to find a background of education, wealth, and of course a love for art.
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas was born on July 19, 1834 in Paris, France. His
family background was mainly middle class; his father was from France and his mother
from America. Degas began his schooling at age 11, and graduated in 1853 with a
baccalaurat in literature. He began his career by working at the Louvre as a copyist.
Degas was later admitted to the cole des Beaux-Arts as a formal artistic education. In
1856 he traveled to Italy and studied the art of the great masters such as Michelangelo,
Raphael and Titian. When he returned to France in 1859, he began working formally as
an artist. According to Wikipedia, Upon the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in
1870, Degas enlisted in the National Guard, where his defense of Paris left him little
time for painting. During rifle training his eyesight was found to be defective, and for the
rest of his life his eye problems were a constant worry to him. Between 1874 and 1866,
he joined a group of artists that held art shows as a way to make money, they were
known as the Society of Independent Artists and focused on Impressionism. Members
of this group included Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley.
Degas never married, but did have many close personal friends. Although his work was
not seen as political, it did represent the social change in France during this time period,
especially regarding women, technological advances, and anti-Semitism.
It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now
only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates
with memory.

As mentioned earlier, Degas was most famous for his depictions of motion, such
as racecourse subjects and dancers. He was also recognized for his nude studies of
women. Degas began with the traditional media of oil painting, but soon started to see
the limitations. He also used pastel and in his later years bronze sculpting and
photography. Because of his poor eyesight in his late adulthood, Degas focused largely
on sculptures. Although he called himself a realist, Degas is largely known as the Father
of Impressionism. The only difference is that while other impressionist artists
attempt[ed] to capture moment in a quick stroke of the brush, Degas studied, planned
and executed in the studio in...controlled conditions (Degas-painting.info).
Nonetheless, he is described more accurately as an Impressionist than as a member of
any other movement. His scenes of Parisian life, his off-center compositions, his
experiments with color and form, and his friendship with several key Impressionist
artistsmost notably Mary Cassatt and douard Manetall relate him intimately to the
Impressionist movement (Wikipedia.org). His style remained relatively constant,
regardless of the changes of the political French atmosphere and social change. The
main objective of his paintings were to show his disdain for the presiding art
establishment as well as his belief that artists needed to turn to more modern
techniques and subject matter (Biography.com). He also believed that art should be
honest representation of the subjects. HIs main focus was human forms rather than
landscapes.
There was range of acceptance regarding Edgar Degas work. Most controversy
laid in the fact of his interpretation of his nude subjects. Some saw the women as ugly,
while others referred to them as a blossoming beauty and an honest representation.
Other critics focused on the point that Degas who was once focused on traditional art,
joined with the Impressionists. After he died, Degas had left more than 2000 oil
paintings and pastels and 150 sculptures. Like most artists, his greatest success and
popularity happened after he had passed away. Personally, I do find a beauty in Degas
work, and appreciate his close study and honesty of the subjects.


In painting you must give the idea of the true by means of the false.

Edgar Degas is known as one of the founders of Impressionism due to his
modern portraitspainted from radical perspectives (Biography.com). Degas also
differed from Impressionists in the fact that he was much more detailed and articulate,
compared to his spontaneous counterparts. He found a dislike in the original ideas of
art, and in turn created a new style that would last decades into the future. Finally,
Edgar Degas never stopped developing a new way of expression and technique. His art
expresses emotion, light, figure, balance, but in such a way that is true to its character,
rather than exaggerated or perfected. This is what I can appreciate most, that Degas did
not have to have a grand scene of majesty; he painted what he saw and in turn created
beauty out of the simpler moments of life.
























Work Cited

Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.
<http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-degas-9269770>.

"Edgar Degas 1834 - 1912." Edgar Degas. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.
<http://www.degas-painting.info/index.htm>.

"Edgar Degas - The complete works." Edgar Degas - The complete works. N.p., n.d.
Web.
21 July 2014. <http://www.edgar-degas.org/>.

"Edgar Degas Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edgar_degas.html>.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas#Artistic_career>.