Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, or Edgar Degas as he was known by, was born July 19, 1834 in Paris, France to Auguste and Celestine Degas. At the age of eighteen, he started taking painting seriously and made himself a studio. In 1853, Degas began copying paintings at the Louvre. He was an enthusiastic copyist for many of his works. In 1855, Edgar Degas began studying drawing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After his schooling in the art department Degas then moved to Italy for the next couple of years. After Edgar Degas returned to Paris, he found himself enlisting in the National Guard in 1870 for the Franco-Prussian War. Also in 1870, his eyesight was found to be defective and declining. Following the war, Edgar Degas had more time to begin painting again. Edgar Deagas mainly used pastels and oils in his works until 1907, and made scupturers as late as 1910. In 1912, he stopped working on his art, due to the fact that he was nearly blind. Giving a total of 2000 oil paintings and pastels and 150 sculptures. Edgar Degas died on September 27, 1917 in Paris, and his grave lies in the CimetiÐ"Ёre de Montmartre.

Edgar Degas was one of the fathers of Impressionism. Impressionism is a style of painting developed in the late 19 century consisting of short brush strokes of bright or unmixed colors. Degas did not only paint but he also experimented with sculpting and printmaking. His paintings mainly were of ballerina dancers, race horse, or naked women. Degas was greatly admired by other artist; some being Toulouse-Lautrec, Jean-Louis Forain, Mary Cassatt, and Walter Sickert. One interesting thing is that, Edgar Degas never painted outdoors. He always perferred to work in his studio with models or from memory.

In my opinion, Edgar Degas was a talented artist. I liked many of his painting, except for the ones of nude women. I believe it must have been extremely hard for him to have to start losing his eyesight around the age of 36 because losing his sight probably prevented him from seeing things that would inspire him.

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