Introduction
Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917) is an outstanding French artist who is known for his marvelous works in drawing and sculpture. He is considered to be a representative of the period of Impressionism, but he stuck to the point that his works belonged to the realistic theme. The most important element in his masterpieces was movement; he used to embody the features of movement through dancers and dancing itself. Edgar Degas was famous for his portraits and history paintings reflecting all the historical features of art development.
Biography
The family, in which Edgar Degas was born, belonged to aristocratic society and lived in Paris. When the future painter was only 13 his mother died and the children left with their father. Edgar Degas studied in the famous school in order to receive classical education, and then at the Faculty of Law, though he was interested in painting from the very beginning of his study. He was advised to paint people in 1855 by Jean Auguste Ingres and in 1956 he decided to study painting on the professional level. Edgar Degas spent about three years in Italy and this time was reflected in his works. He was influenced by such famous painters as Michelangelo, Raphael and other representatives of the Renaissance period. During this time the painter managed to learn the most important methods of drawing, to study main peculiarities of classical art and to become familiar with the techniques of academic art.
The artist’s career of painting was merely concentrated on the depiction of the family members, portraits and dancers in movement. He painted the objects of reality and paid much attention to the play of light in his works. Though his works contained some features of Impressionism, the artist refused this fact and never considered himself to be the representative of this art movement. Spontaneity was the main feature that made his works individual and more realistic than those of Impressionists. Degas tried to combine inspiration and feeling of spontaneous vision in his masterpieces. The artist was known for his individual style in which he managed to depict the main features of skilled and famous painters.
The most famous works of the artist are La Classe de Danse, L’Absinthe, Place de la Concorde, Musicians in the Orchestra, At the Races, La Toilette, Dancer with a Bouquet of Flowers and many others. The artist used to be interested in photographing and during some period of time he tried to make creative photos of his entire friends and close people. Degas was also famous for his marvelous sculptures such as Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, etc.
Edgar Degas was the author of many great exhibitions and his works were spread all around the world. He is still considered to be the father of the Impressionism movement and the founder of many new techniques of art style. Due to his works one can observe the features of other famous painters who created their masterpieces during the whole history of art development. Edgar Degas rejected any strict rules and methods of painting style and relied only on his spontaneous feeling and first impression from the object that is why all his works are very emotional, involving and living. A lot of painters used his works as the background for their own and tried to follow his individual and unique style of drawing. Edgar Degas left a great print in the world history of art and people have an opportunity to derive an utmost pleasure from his marvelous paintings and sculptures.
References
Canaday, John. The Lives of the Painters, Volume 3. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc, 1969.
Benedek, Nelly S. Chronology of the Artist’s life: Degas. NY, 2004.