Edgar Degas is a French artist that specialized in painting things in motion. He is known for being a master at drawing the human figure in motion. He had an extremely long career and is one of the most famous artists today. Degas was born in Paris on July 19, 1834. His father was a very wealthy banker. At the age of only thirteen, his mother died. From the time that Degas was a young child, he had a very unpleasant attitude. He was restless, insecure and temperamental. His mother's early death and the extremely strict school that he attended may have shaped this personality. Despite being ill tempered, Degas was extraordinarily talented at art. Degas studied art at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, a famous school in Paris. This is where his drawing ability really developed. After that, he went to Italy and studied the Renaissance paintings for five years before returning to France. Although Degas is considered an impressionist painter, his work is very different than theirs. He liked to work in the studio rather than outside, unlike the impressionists. He also wasn't interested in optical light, which was the main concern for most impressionists. Degas was especially interested in objects in motion, particularly the human figure. He observed people throughout his life to learn how all the muscles in the body work so that he could paint them better. He would attempt to catch his subjects in a moment in time, much like a photograph. Edgar's paintings were usually put together asymmetrically and with very unusual angles. Many of his works appear to be cropped on the sides. All of his work has a photographic quality to it. Before long, ballet dancers became Edgar's favorite thing to paint. He had a live model in his studio that he would use to create his works of art. He painted many different ballet paintings, such as dancers at a performance, dancers on stage, dancers resting or waiting to perform and dancers entering a stage. Degas was a very lonely man. He spent most of his time alone, working in his studio. He had no serious relationships with women and almost seemed to despise them, saying that women make men's lives unbearable. This is very strange because he loved to paint women and paid very close attention to them, studying their every move. Unfortunately, in the 1880s Degas' eyesight started to fail. He began to use two new medias which didn't require so much visual acuity. The two medias were pastels and sculptures. Even though he began to use new medias, he still tried to capture moments in time and still painted things in motion. However, as he grew older his eyesight deteriorated more and more. When this happened, most of his new works were sculptures. Degas died on September 27, 1917. He lived to be over 80 years old and worked as an artist for more than 60 years. He was not very well known while he was alive. This is because he didn't show his works very much. After he died, people realized that he was an extraordinary artist. |
