Edgar Degas, born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar de Gas, one of the most important French Impressionists, is best known as a painter of ballerinas. His creative opus also includes sculptures that occupy the pinnacle of European art of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Although he was born in an upper-class banking family, he left law school and dedicated his life to art. Unlike many artists of the time in Paris, he did not have to concern himself with financial or critical success because of his social position, therefore, he was free to pursue his creative inspirations and interests.

In addition to studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, he honed his drawing skills at the Louvre where he copied the works of the Old Masters. His earliest drawings were academic and very realistic. Influenced by the painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Degas took his advice to draw as many lines as possible and followed it throughout his career.

In youth, he traveled frequently to Normandy, Italy and America. Works of art he saw during these travels contributed to his expanded creative vision. His biggest inspiration was Parisian nightlife which he experienced by frequenting famous cafes, such as Cafe des Ambassadeurs and Guerbois. A cocktail of murmur of enthralled and intoxicated audience, music, dancers in fluttering skirts and dim lighting in bars provided Degas with an unrivalled experience of life so that these places justifiably became a source of magic and inspiration for him.

Another great influence was the Paris Opera Ballet. He was interested in life behind the scenes which he liked observing hidden backstage during performances or blended in backgrounds of corridors and rehearsal rooms so that dancers did not feel his gaze while relaxing, warming up, stretching or changing their costumes.

In 1874 Degas, along with Claude Monet and other artists, founded the Societe Anonyme Coopertive des Artistes, Sculpteurs and Graveurs, an organization independent of the traditionalist Academy. Degas went on to exhibit on seven Impressionist exhibitions, which is why he is closely associated with this style, although he never considered himself to be an Impressionist artist.

Throughout his life realism was his initial stylistic framework from which he created. But Degas transcended that framework by allowing experience to dominate his artworks. He had a constant need to seek new solutions and enter the realm of the unknown and unexplored, which led to his greatest artistic achievements in painting and sculpture. A good example of that is the Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer which is a part of this exhibition.

Degas' eyesight deteriorated in his final years. Nonetheless, he continued to create and explore his abilities to the fullest, for the power of art was always about reciprocity and the only source of life for him.

Collection Timeline

Working hours