Edgar Degas

#1. Photography Pioneer. Degas was one of the first major artists to incorporate photography into his creative process, using it to capture movement and study the human body in different poses, which significantly influenced his portrayals of dancers and horses.

#2. Beyond Paint. Though best known for his paintings and pastels, Degas was also a skilled sculptor. His most famous sculpture, "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen," shocked audiences with its realism and use of non-traditional materials like real hair and a fabric tutu.

#3. Eyesight Challenges. In his later years, Degas struggled with failing eyesight, which led him to the tactile medium of sculpture and influenced the increasingly abstract and expressive quality of his later works.

#4. Not Just Dancers. While famous for ballet dancers, Degas also had a fascination with the millinery trade, creating numerous works depicting milliners (hat makers), which are considered among the first thematic series devoted to working women in art.

#5. Artistic Solitude. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Degas was known for his introverted and often solitary lifestyle, which was reflected in the solitary and contemplative nature of many of his figures.

The Dance Class (1874) - not for sale, considered priceless; displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The Absinthe Drinker (1876) - not for sale, considered priceless; displayed in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Little Dancer of Fourteen Years (1881) - sold for $41.6 million in 2015; current estimates exceed $50–70 million.

Dancers at the Bar (1885) - sold for $37 million in 2008; current estimates exceed $45–60 million.

Woman Bathing in a Shallow Tub (1885) - sold for $26.5 million in 2019; current estimates exceed $30–50 million.

"Degas’ art is a masterful exploration of movement, capturing fleeting moments with elegance." Art historian, Emily Carter

"Through Degas’ brush, dancers and everyday life become vibrant studies of form and light." Critic, Sarah Whitmore

"Every Degas painting feels like a dynamic snapshot of life, brimming with energy." Scholar, Laura Bennett

"Degas’ genius lies in his ability to transform ordinary subjects into extraordinary compositions." Curator, James Turner

"In Degas’ works, the viewer finds a timeless celebration of grace, beauty, and modernity." Critic, Richard Holmes

Musée d’Orsay, Paris — The Ballet Class, L’Absinthe, and many pastels of dancers.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York — The Dance Class, Woman with Chrysanthemums, wax sculptures.

Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris — Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume collection.

National Gallery, London — Beach Scene, Combing the Hair.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — major Degas bronzes and pastels.

Art Institute of Chicago — The Millinery Shop, ballet scenes.

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena — large Degas pastel and bronze collection.

Burrell Collection, Glasgow — significant pastels and oils.

Unexpected viewpoints — scenes framed from behind, below, or off to the side as if glimpsed by chance. Pastel as a major medium alongside oil, built up in dense layers of coloured chalk. Recurring subjects: ballet dancers in rehearsal, racehorses, women bathing or brushing their hair, café interiors. Figures often cropped by the edge of the canvas, following a photographer’s eye rather than a classical painter’s. Line and movement matter more than colour. An apparent spontaneity disguising very careful composition.

Academic and Historical (1855–1870): Classical training in Paris and Italy; early history paintings and portraits.

Modern Life Turn (1870s): Began painting ballet, racetrack and café scenes; exhibited with the Impressionists.

Pastel & Sculpture Period (1880s–1890s): Turned increasingly to pastel and to small wax sculptures as his eyesight declined.

Late Near-Blindness (1900–1917): Almost entirely sculptural work as vision failed; many pastel reworkings of earlier themes.

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

“Drawing is not what you see, but what you must make others see.”

Degas’s pastels are almost impossible to reproduce flat: he built them up in dozens of layers of dry pigment, sometimes steaming or fixing intermediate layers and then reworking over them. The surface has a tactile softness that collapses under print or thin oil washes. His oil paintings meanwhile depend on composition — the cropping, the viewpoint, the balance of empty space — which is easy to get wrong by a few centimetres and impossible to fix. Drawing accuracy is everything. A reproduction painter must be as confident with line as Degas himself, and then add the accumulated, luminous richness of pastel technique on top.