Download Edgar Degas - Faculty.frostburg

Edgar Degas
Post-impressionist Painter
Life






Born July 19th, 1834 in Paris, France
Son of a wealthy banker, encouraged by aristocratic
family to pursue art from a young age
Started at the Ecole de Beaux Arts, but left for Italy in
1854
Studied Renaissance works for 5 years before returning
to Paris
Worked as a portrait artist, and theatrical scene painter
Died Sept. 27, 1917, Paris, France
Art







Psychology of movement, expression, contour, and
form
His idol was the painter Jean Auguste Ingres
Early work combined classical and romantic styles
Late 1860’s moved to more contemporary style,
Post-impressionism
In the 1870’s the female ‘ballet dancer’ became his
favorite and most well known theme to this day
His work reveals brush strokes, placing un-natural
colors side by side to give expressive quality
Focused on texture, color, and form
The Singer in Green, 1960.
The Dance Class, 1874
The Sitting Dancer, 1880.
“A painting requires a little
mystery, some vagueness, some
fantasy. When you always make
your meaning perfectly plain you
end up boring people.”
-Edgar Degas