Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was a French artist born and died in Paris. He is grouped with the Impressionists, although he preferred to call himself a realist and rarely painted outdoors. He trained in the academic tradition, admired Ingres, and spent about three years in Italy from 1856 studying Renaissance art. From the 1860s he turned to modern subjects such as racecourses, cafés, laundresses and, above all, dancers, who appear in more than half of his works. Degas helped organise the Impressionist exhibitions between 1874 and 1886 and showed in all but one. He worked in oil, pastel, monotype, etching and sculpture, and his unusual cropping and viewpoints show an interest in photography and Japanese prints. Well-known works include The Bellelli Family, A Cotton Office in New Orleans, The Absinthe and the sculpture Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, exhibited in 1881. His eyesight declined after 1890, and he reportedly stopped working around 1912. He died in Paris in 1917.