Edgar Degas

JulEdgar Degas was born in Paris on July 19, 1834.¹

JulEdgar Degas was born in Paris, France on July 19, 1834.²

By the time he graduated from the Lycée with a baccalauréat in literature in 1853, at age 18, he had turned a room in his home into an artist's studio.¹

In 1855, he met Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, whose advice he never forgot.¹

In 1855, Degas met Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, who advised him to 'draw lines, and still more lines.' This guidance formed the foundation for Degas's lifelong mastery of draftsmanship.³

Degas graduated from the Lycée at age 18 in 1855, and was registered as a copyist at the Louvre Museum in the same year.⁴

JulIn July 1856, Degas traveled to Italy, where he would remain for the next three years.¹

Initially aspiring to be a history painter, Degas shifted to contemporary subjects in the 1860s after meeting Manet, becoming a classical painter of modern life by applying traditional methods to modern scenes.³

At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Degas enlisted in the National Guard and participated in the defense of Paris.²

Upon the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Degas enlisted in the National Guard, but his eyesight was found to be defective during rifle training.¹

During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Degas discovered his eyesight was defective during rifle training. This lifelong struggle with vision influenced his later shift toward bolder, more abstract styles.³

During an 1872 stay in New Orleans, Degas painted his family's cotton office. This work, 'A Cotton Office in New Orleans,' was the only painting of his purchased by a museum during his lifetime.³

After his father's death in 1874, Degas sold his assets to pay off his brother's massive debts. Forced to rely on art sales for income, he produced much of his greatest work during this period.³

In the late 1880s, Degas became passionate about photography. He used his photos of friends and dancers as reference material, incorporating innovative compositions and angles into his paintings.³

As his eyesight failed, Degas turned to sculpture, relying on touch. His wax figures of dancers and horses, cast in bronze after his death, are celebrated for capturing moments of movement.³

In his later years, Degas's anti-Semitic views during the Dreyfus Affair led him to break with many friends. Renoir later recalled him as a difficult man whom friends eventually had to leave.³

SepEdgar Degas died in Paris on September 27, 1917, at the age of 83.¹

SepEdgar Degas died in Paris on September 27, 1917, at the age of 83.²