Introduction
People love to see paintings. The word painting would immediately bring up the names of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and others. The word painting will also make us wonder whether the painting was done during the Renaissance period, the Middle Ages, or another period. A painting would also prod us to determine if the painter was an impressionist, an anti –impressionist, or another type of painter. However, one thing is sure. Some paintings are immortalized and their values skyrocket. On the other hand, some paintings gather dust and are forgotten because they do not appeal to the discriminating taste of many art enthusiasts.
Body
The painting entitled Absinthe, L’ was done by Edgar Degas as an oil painting it shows the powerful alcoholic drink named Absinthe. The painting was done in 1876. This painting was very popular in France until it was finally prohibited to be displayed by the French government in 1915. The painting shows two persons silently beside each other looking far away. Edgar Degas’ main purpose in creating this work of art is to show that drinking is bad for the health.
The artist, Edgar Degas, creates a woman characterized by a sloped shoulder brought about by the side effects of drinking more than one’s limit. The woman in the painting is the actress Ellen Andree. The male friend sitting beside the actress is her bohemian artist acquaintance named Marcellin Desboutin. Marcellin Desboutin lived from 1823 to 1902. The setting of the painting was the Café de la Nouvelle in Athens, Greece. Edgar Degas deviated from the usual story that it the men who are prone to drink intoxicating liquor. Whereas, the female-only drink non –intoxicating drinks. Here, he shows the female as the drunkard and the male as the intoxicating drink avoider.
This painting precipitated the rumor that many females during Edgar Degas’ time and especially after the Paris commune drink intoxicating liquor to intentionally incite their working-class acquaintances to transform into violent persons during their upheaval.
This Edgar Degas painting became so popular before it was finally banned from public exhibition. Many painters copied this Edgar Degas painting. The painter H. Daumier was inspirational in coming up with his version of the Absinthe drinker painting entitled Le Premier Verre, le Sixieme vere, Le Sixieme Verre in 1863. Another painter, J –F Raffaelli’s painting in 1881 was entitled The Absinthe Drinkers of 1881. One theory goes that Edgar Degas was portrayed as a person with conservative political attitudes.
In a conversation with another oil painter, Edgar Devas stated his deep sentiment that “It has been the ambition of my life to paint on walls; — but you have got to remember that a house changes hands, and consequently one’s work is apt to be destroyed. (Vollard 69)”. Edgar had feared that many of his paintings, including the Absinthe Drinker, discussed above, would change hands many times as they would be sold by one buyer to another. He surmised that his paintings would soon reach the hands of art dealers and sold at higher prices. Thus, Edgar Degas wished that the value of his paintings would not increase so they would not be sold by dealers to the highest bidders.
Edgar preferred to paint in black and white so that his paintings would not increase in value. However, he had to give in to the public’s clamor for colorful works of art. He truly disdained to have to bend to the public’s wishes. Edgar Degas preferred to make charcoal paintings as compared to colored paintings(Strieter 1)
The art of painting in France during Edgar Degas’ active days was characterized as a country when Francois I acceded to the throne. This occurred after the death of Henry IV. King Charles VIII and Louis XII also ruled France during Edgar Degas’s time. This was the time of the Renaissance in France. King Francois, I revitalized painting as an art during the 1860s. Painting in France at this time was focused on foreign painters to the prohibition of local French painters to paint. The French kings would prefer to hire painters from outside France such as the Italian painters (Dimier 4).
Renaissance is the French word for rebirth. This was the cultural revolution that bloomed from 14th to the 17th century. Renaissance during this period was focused on art paintings that had linear themes. Education started to prosper during this period. Renaissance can also be described as the link between the middle ages and our modern time. Prominent painters of this period included Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo (Revard 6).
Edgar Degas was regarded by many as an impressionist art painter. This painter is vivid proof of his impressionist tag. Impressionists prefer to make paintings that show the stark realities of life. Their paintings are imbued with bright colors just like this painting under study. An impressionist painting like this understudy is freely pampered with varied colors touched by light. Impressionist paintings like this were done to show that viewers that there is a certain degree of immediacy. Edgar Degas’ was influenced by the painting of famous painters. His paintings are based on his innermost reflection on what life was during his day.
His paintings were based on his five senses. This is the secret ingredient why people can easily connect or catapult themselves to the same spot and at the same place as Edgar Degas was at the time of his creating the painting shown below. Impressionist art can also be described as a painting based on ideas, reflection, and judgment(Matz 12).
Conclusion
Edgar Degas was a genius in the realm of painting. He was a true impressionist. He was also a painter at the time when his native France was on the threshold of the renaissance period. This painting alone is evidence of impressionist as well as renaissance art. This painting is made of bright colors. The painting seems to be done at high noon because all parts of the painting are very bright indeed. In addition, the painting shows linear patterns. The tables are painted showing the edges of the two tables in straight lines. Likewise, both persons are on a straight line being seated beside each other. Both persons are not talking to each other.
This is typical of the impressionist painter showing that he is often reflecting and full of ideas pondering what to do to resolve the day-to-day problems of his time. Likewise, it is typical of the renaissance period. The painting below realistically shows how the people lived during the time of Edgar Degas. Conclusively, Edgar Degas was a true impressionist and a renaissance painter. This painting is appeals and magnetizes its viewers because it shows that life back then in 1876 has many similarities or difficulties with life today far away from France. This is what separates a masterpiece from a mediocre painting.
Works Cited
Brown, Marilyn R. “”Miss la La’s” Teeth: Reflections on Degas and “Race”.” The Art Bulletin 89.4 (2007): 738+.
Dimier, L. French Painting in the Sixteenth Century. London: Duckworth and Company, 1904.
Matz, Jesse. Literary Impressionism and Modernist Aesthetics. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Revard, Stella P. Pindar and the Renaissance Hymn-Ode, 1450-1700. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001.
Strieter, Terry W. Nineteenth-Century European Art: A Topical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Vollard, Ambroise. Degas: An Intimate Portrait. Trans. Randolph T. Weaver. New York: Crown Publishers, 1937.