Edgar Degas wanted to eliminate chance from art; spontaneity and inspiration were an abomination to the French painter. Instead, he sought to do justice to a subject with the highest perfection through constant repetition and practice. Celebrated as an Impressionist, the artist became famous for his ballet scenes – but his oeuvre is much more comprehensive, and art-historical classification remains difficult.
(...) Continue readingEdgar Degas – Always searching for his own paths
Edgar Degas was born Hilaire Germain Edgar de Gas on 19 July 1834 in Paris. The son of a Neapolitan banker, he grew up in comfort and at the age of 18 set up his first studio in his art-minded father’s house – he lost his mother early and so father and grandfather were his most important contacts. In accordance with his father’s wishes, Edgar Degas started studying law at the Sorbonne, but he broke this off in 1854 to enroll a year later at the École des Beaux-Arts. He had already had painting lessons from Louis Lamothe, a student of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, whom Degas particularly admired, along with Hans Holbein. However, he wasn’t happy at the academy and soon left to study alone from the numerous reliefs and old master works in the Parisian museums. During a three year stay in Rome, Degas studied the Italian masters of the 15th century and with this viewed his apprenticeship as complete.
Unconventional depiction of pose and movement
Edgar Degas first demonstrated his great ability with the large format oil picture Die Familie Bellelli – he had lived and studied for a time with his aunt Laura Bellelli who was married to Baron Gennaro Bellelli. What is special about this picture is the tension of a presumably arranged marriage which Degas makes visible in a completely untypical way beyond all representative formality. The artist was not focused on a caricatured or idealised depiction, but much rather the most exact representation of pose and movement possible. Although he saw himself first and foremost as a portraitist, Degas also worked intensively on history painting in the 1860s which was considered the most distinguished of all pictorial genres at the time. However, the extremely subdued response he had to his five history paintings soon led him to turn away from the subject and instead, everyday life in Paris and not least the city’s amusements played an important role in Degas’ art from then on.
The Impressionist who wasn’t one
Edgar Degas is primarily associated with the Impressionists, whose important core included Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet and Pierre-Aguste Renoir among his friends, and, having met Manet at the Louvre, Degas travelled with him to London in 1868. That same year, music and dance theatre also attracted his artistic focus, for which he adopted unusual perspectives and extracts. He had a particular love for ballet, for the depiction of which he used pastels with unprecedented mastery. He increasingly set himself apart from the Impressionists with his own painting style characterised by clean lines and structuring, so that his art historical classification in Impressionism is sometimes discussed. During his service in the Franco-German war, Degas contracted an eye condition – almost completely blinded, painting was no longer possible in his last years and instead he turned to sculpture, modelling from wax and clay. With this, he also refrained from following the usual traditions and took his own view. As an artist, Degas’ success brought economic security and he was even able to pay off his brother René’s considerable debts, although this did cost him part of his art collection.
Edgar Degas died on 27 September 1917 in Paris, the city of his birth and home. He was never married and did not have any children. Of relationships with women nothing is known, which has time and again been cause for speculation. Due to his increasingly difficult and argumentative nature, he spent his last years in seclusion, abandoned by most of his friends. Degas’ biography is also marred by his bitter anti-Semitism.
Edgar Degas - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz: