Inside the World of Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas was one of the most revered painters of his time, and is known as the founder of Impressionism. His specialty was in fine art that was of the highest, realistic quality, specifically on landscapes and portraits. Born into a moderately wealthy family in Paris, France in 1834, Edgar Degas always had a raw, natural talent for art. Eventually he set off for college and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. It was there that he really began to perfect his technique and come up with something new for himself, marking the birth of the Impressionist era. Degas took the traditional approach and style of art and blended it beautifully with his own impressionist style, creating some of the finest portraits and landscapes to this day.

Some of the things that set Edgar Degas apart from other artists is that his work often focused on female dancers and offset, unusual centering of his subjects while painting portraits. Edgar Degas used to experiments with the angle and perspective of his works.

While school was important for Edgar Degas, eventually he decided to pick up and take off on his own journey. Rather than settle down into school at the prestigious art school in Paris, he decided to travel around for three years — primarily to Italy. It was in Italy that he began copying and repainting the works of Michelangelo and da Vinci. Because of this, he developed an aptitude in high quality linearity in his work.

Upon his return to Paris, Edgar Degas decided to submit many of his works to the Salon, where, at the time they didn’t find anything special about Degas’s paintings. The Salon resided over displaying art to the public and was really a club of the top dogs in the art industry. Unfortunately, Degas’s works were turned down, but fortunately for us and the rest of the world — this caused him to further experiment and paint to his own liking; eventually developing his own Impressionistic style.

Eventually, Degas as well as several other prominent painters: Monet and Sisley to name a couple all banded together in order to combat the Salon. This group that began displaying their artwork eventually earned the title as “Impressionists” — although, according to Degas he would have much rather preferred the term “realist”. After several exhibitions with these independent artist, Degas created a name for himself and helped pioneer the Impressionist art movement.

You can enjoy, and engage with the next generation of Impressionist painters on Jack Arthur.