Degas Degas’ shifting painting style

Suzanna Mayer

Edgar Degas • 1834-1912• Born into a wealthy

banking family• He went to college

to become a lawyer but then abandoned that for painting

Degas Early Painting• He copied several

classical images in the Louvre and in Italy

• Most from the 15th-16th century

• Oil on canvas

Painting (cont.)• After copying old masters in Italy he returned

to Paris where he mostly painted portraits • He presented at the Paris Salon repeatedly

for 5 years soon after he returned• However he started loosing his

eyesight around the last year he showed at the salon

Late Painting (cont.)

• His eyesight was bad and as a result he started using mediums that didn’t require much detail such as pastels and sculpture

• During this period he produced many of his famous ballet images and pastel images

• He then moved to more landscape scenes • The last 5-6 years of his life he didn’t paint as much because he

was going blind• He became very depressed and even said “I would like to be

famous but unknown”

Ballet • He believed painting and

ballet to be similar: they both require hours and hours of practice and repetition of positions

• He attempted to not only capture the beauty of ballet but also the work and discipline behind it

Style• Almost every Degas image

involved movement• He however did not paint

rapidly to capture a moment but was very careful and detailed in a controlled environment

• He moved to pastels and other “dead” mediums for painting, he saw oil paint as a limitation

Style

• Towards the end of his life he turned more to sculpture to express himself as well as his brightest pastels

Techniques• He often mixed his pastels in a liquid so much that it

became almost like paste it got so thick• In addition to his pastels he used charcoal and often layered

the pastels • He sometimes passed his charcoal images through a press

to get an inverse print from the excess charcoal on the page• He focused more on the movement and color rather then

sharp lines and accurate depictions toward the end of his life using pastels and sculpture

Facts• Manet introduces degas

to impressionism which is what he left his pursit of being a lawyer for

• Also took photographs but refused to show them despite him being very proud of them