Edgar Degas : Complete biography, major works and legacy of a master of Impressionism

Edgar Degas (Hilaire Germain Edgar de Gas), born in Paris on 19 July 1834 and died on 27 September 1917, is one of the major figures of Impressionism, although he liked to define himself as a realist or a naturalist. Painter, sculptor, printmaker, photographer and draftsman, he profoundly marked the history of art with his sense of movement, his modernity and his unique gaze on Parisian society.

Origins and youth: the beginnings of an already promising artist

Born into a cultivated bourgeois family, Edgar Degas grew up in an environment favorable to art. His father, Pierre-Auguste Hyacinthe de Gas, a banker and music-lover, quickly recognized his son’s artistic vocation and encouraged him without reserve.

Academic training and early influences

• 1853 : Degas obtains his baccalauréat at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.
• He joined the studio of the painter Louis Barrias, then that of Louis Lamothe, a former disciple of Ingres.
• He regularly frequented the Louvre Museum, where he copied the Italian and Flemish masters: Fra Angelico, Mantegna, Raphael…

From this period, Degas showed remarkable maturity; his first portraits revealed technical mastery and an extraordinary sensitivity.

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Travels in Italy: a decisive stage (1854–1859)

Between 1854 and 1859, Degas made several stays in Italy, the country of origin of his paternal family.

Rome, Florence, Naples: the birth of a style

He visited Rome, Perugia, Assisi, Florence, Arezzo, and deeply absorbed the frescoes of Giotto, whom he described as “a dramatic genius”.
In Florence, he painted one of his first masterpieces: Portrait of the Bellelli Family, a monumental work in which his mastery of composition is evident.

These Italian years forever defined his sense of line, structure and chiaroscuro.

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Return to Paris: portraits, historical scenes and new inspirations

Back in France, Degas devoted himself first to historical subjects, much appreciated at the Salon:

• Young Spartans Exercising in Wrestling
• Semiramis Building a City
• The Misfortunes of the City of Orléans

But very quickly, his interest turned toward more modern themes: horse racing, the opera, dance, urban life — subjects that would become his signature.

He continued in parallel to excel in the art of portraiture, as in The Lady with Chrysanthemums, a painting innovative for its off-center composition.

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Friendship with Manet and the gatherings at the Café Guerbois

Between 1861 and 1863, Degas met Édouard Manet, who would become one of his closest companions. He joined the circle of the Café Guerbois, where the future Impressionists gathered: Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne, but also the writers Zola and Duranty.

Thanks to his friend Désiré Dihau, a violinist at the Opera, Degas entered the backstage of the theater, which became an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

In 1869 was born The Orchestra of the Opera, the first in a series devoted to dancers and the world of the stage.

The War of 1870 and a decisive stay in Louisiana

The Franco-Prussian War briefly interrupted his career: Degas served in the artillery.
In 1872, he went to New Orleans, where his Musson uncles lived. From this trip, he brought back family portraits and above all the masterful work:

The Cotton Office (1873)

This painting, exhibited in 1876 at the second Impressionist exhibition, is one of the symbols of Degas’s modernity.

Degas and the Impressionists: a pillar of the movement

In 1874, Nadar lent his studio on Boulevard des Capucines for the first Impressionist exhibition. Degas played an essential role there and participated in all the exhibitions (except that of 1882).

There he presented notably portraits, scenes of modern life, and paintings devoted to the opera and to dancers.

Dance: the emblematic theme of Edgar Degas

No other figure in art is as closely associated with dancers as Degas. More than half of his work is devoted to them:
rehearsal rooms, backstage, warm-up exercises, onstage scenes…

The Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (1881)

His most famous sculpture, dressed in a real tutu, caused a scandal at the time and revolutionized modern sculpture.

He then produced a series of bronzes representing dancers bending, stretching, walking, arranging their hair — true studies of movement.

Varied techniques: pastel, sculpture, monotype

Fascinated by experimentation, Degas explored:

• the pastel, which he considered superior to oil
• sculpture, with horses, dancers and female nudes
• the monotype, a printmaking technique which he pushed to an unprecedented level
• photography, which he used from the 1880s to study light and poses

This diversification largely contributed to his reputation as an innovative and visionary artist.

End of life: progressive blindness and forced retirement

From 1893, Degas’s vision declined dangerously. Despite this, he continued to model and to work in pastel until exhaustion.

In 1912, he was forced to leave his house on rue Victor-Massé, where he had lived all his life, which affected him deeply.
He died on 27 September 1917 in Paris, at 83, and received a national funeral at Montmartre Cemetery.

Some major works by Degas

Sculptures

• Little Dancer Aged Fourteen
• Dancer Putting on Her Stocking
• Rearing Horse
• Galloping Horse
• Dancer in Grande Arabesque
• Spanish Dancer

Paintings

• The Dance Class
• The Orchestra of the Opera
• In Front of the Stands
• Three Prostitutes on a Sofa
• The Milliners
• The Dance Foyer
• Portrait of the Bellelli Family

Why Edgar Degas remains an essential artist

Even today, Degas fascinates because of:

• his unique sense of movement
• his sociological perspective on Parisian society
• his modern approach to framing, close to photography
• the narrative power of his urban scenes
• the elegance of his pastels

Degas is considered one of the greatest artists of the 19th century, a bridge between classicism and modernity.