Graphic print 50x70 cm in a limited edition. Print no. 88/300. Blind stamp DONALD ART CO. 1962. Loose sheet. Paper FABRIANO Cotton 300 GR. License: Musée d'Orsay
About the Author:
Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was a French painter who was considered an Impressionist, though he never thought of himself as one, despite being one of the main initiators of Impressionist exhibitions. He stood apart from the movement and was reluctant to even accept the term "Impressionism."
Like his colleague Édouard Manet, Degas was wary of associating with other members of the group, as his refined drawing style set him apart. He said that painting requires a little mystery, vagueness, and imagination. When you express your meaning clearly, you eventually bore people.
Born on July 19, 1834, in Paris, he studied under Louis Lamothe, a former pupil of the Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres at the Academy of Fine Arts.
His early works, imbued with academic techniques, often featured motifs drawn from antiquity. After the Franco-Prussian War, Edgar Degas traveled to the United States, where in 1875 he painted his famous work A Cotton Office in New Orleans. In the late 1870s, Degas experienced a period of profound creativity and, despite his deteriorating eyesight, produced great works in sculpture, printmaking, and painting.
For the remainder of his career, he increasingly used pastels, which allowed him to work faster and with greater dexterity. Degas died on September 27, 1917, in Paris, France. Today, his works are part of the collections of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the National Gallery in London.
