Biography about edgar degas life

Edgar Degas Biography In Details

During his life, public reception of Degas' work ranged from admiration to contempt. As a promising artist in the conventional mode, and in the several years following , Degas had a number of paintings accepted in the Salon. These works received praise from Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and the critic, Castagnary.

Degas soon joined forces with the Impressionists, however, and rejected the rigid rules, judgements, and elitism of the Salon—just as the Salon and general public initially rejected the experimentalism of the Impressionists.

Degas's work was controversial, but was generally admired for its draftsmanship. The suite of nudes Degas exhibited in the eighth Impressionist Exhibition in produced "the most concentrated body of critical writing on the artist during his lifetime. The overall reaction was positive and laudatory." His La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, or Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, was probably his most controversial piece, with some critics decrying what they thought its "appalling ugliness" while others saw in it a "blossoming."

Recognized as an important artist by the e

Edgar Degas

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Who Was Edgar Degas?

Edgar Degas studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and became renowned as a stellar portraitist, fusing Impressionistic sensibilities with traditional approaches. Both a painter and sculptor, Degas enjoyed capturing female dancers and played with unusual angles and ideas around centering. His work influenced several major modern artists, including Pablo Picasso.

Early Life

Degas was born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar de Gas on July 19, , in Paris, France. (As an adult, Degas reverted his last name back to the original spelling.) His father, Auguste, was a banker, and his mother, Celestine, was an American from New Orleans. Their family were members of the middle class with nobler pretensions. For many years, the Degas family spelled their name "de Gas"; the preposition "de" suggesting a land-owning aristocratic background which they did not actually have.

Degas came from a very musical household – his mother was an amateur opera singer and his father occasionally arranged for musicians to give recitals in their home. Degas attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, a prestigious and rigorous boys' secondary school, where h

THE ART BOG

Edgar Degas (–) was a French artist renowned for his contributions to the Impressionist movement, particularly his depictions of ballet dancers, horse races, and everyday scenes. Degas was not only a painter but also a sculptor, printmaker, and a keen observer of modern life. His work is characterized by its innovative compositions, use of light, and exploration of human movement.

  • Early Life and Education: Born in Paris on July 19, , Edgar Hilaire Germain Degas came from a prosperous family. He initially studied law but soon turned to art, entering the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His early education exposed him to classical artistic traditions.
  • Association with the Impressionists: Degas was a pivotal figure in the Impressionist movement, participating in several of their exhibitions. However, he preferred to be called a Realist rather than an Impressionist. His work shared characteristics with Impressionism, but he also had distinct features in his compositions.
  • Subject Matter: Degas was known for his scenes of modern urban life, especially those involving the ballet. He captured the grace and movement of dancers in various stages of performan

    Summary of Edgar Degas

    Always remembered as an Impressionist, Edgar Degas was a member of the seminal group of Paris artists who began to exhibit together in the s. He shared many of their novel techniques, was intrigued by the challenge of capturing effects of light and attracted to scenes of urban leisure. But Degas's academic training, and his own personal predilection toward Realism, set him apart from his peers, and he rejected the label 'Impressionist' preferring to describe himself as an 'Independent.' His inherited wealth gave him the comfort to find his own way, and later it also enabled him to withdraw from the Paris art world and sell pictures at his discretion. He was intrigued by the human figure, and in his many images of women - dancers, singers, and laundresses - he strove to capture the body in unusual positions. While critics of the Impressionists focused their attacks on their formal innovations, it was Degas's lower-class subjects that brought him the most disapproval.

    Accomplishments

    • Degas's enduring interest in the human figure was shaped by his academic training, but he approached it in innovative ways. He captured strange postures from unusual angle

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