 |
|
|
Learn
about the greatest works of art |
|
|
| Contemporary
Artists |
||
|
||
|
||
|
| Art-house
films Reviews |
| Ossessione
Visconti
|
| Artistic
styles Information,prints |
|
|
| Need
an artistic gift? |
| Christmas
art |
| Music
Culture |
(c)Artbrain
2004
the UK fine art site
get all your posters, prints and information here!
| Edgar
Degas |
July 19, 1834 - September 27, 1917
Edgar Degas was a French painter and sculptor.
Born Edgar Hilaire Germain de Gas in Paris, France, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, at first heavily influenced by Ingres. Degas' innovative composition, influenced by the Japanese woodblock prints called Ukiyo-e and photography, his skillful drawing, and perceptive analysis of movement made him one of the masters of progressive art in the late 19th century. He is especially known for his paintings of ballet dancers and other women, as well as of race horses. He is often considered an Impressionist, but his work sometimes goes more in classical and realist directions, other times to Romanticism.
In Montmartre, he had an affair with one of his models, Suzanne Valadon. Degas would encourage her efforts to paint and she would eventually become one of the best known female artists of the day.
Degas lived with relatives in New Orleans, Louisiana 1872-1873. One of the paintings he did there and then brought back to France, The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans (http://www.hayalevi.com/cgi-bin/sanatgalerisidetay.asp?resim=153) got him favorable attention, and was his only work purchased by a museum (that of Pau) during his lifetime.
In the 1880s, when his eyesight began to fail, Degas shifted his talent to sculpture and pastel that did not require such acute vision.
He died in Paris and is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris, France.
"La Classe de Danse", painted 1874.
a sculpture by DegasToday, paintings by Degas can sell for more than US$16
million.
Nice ladies, shame about the chalk
1834-1917
Everyone's seen Degas' ballerinas, they sparkle with vivre even if he does little to project a sense of joie. Amazed by the fact that these women let him watch their ablutions - and why did they - he has captured intimate moments of self-care, stressing the mundane, the everyday, yet lifting it somehow higher.
His best works were done in pastels which has created a problem for curators and conservators, and means that his best work can only be viewed in darkened rooms. A pity but it shows he was not thinking of posterity, an asset which helps explain his off-the-cuff style and experimentation.
Taking a multitude of angles and views Degas manages to project his own fears and hopes into the tender bodies of the young dancers that he spent so much time around.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Degas".