3. Edgar Degas (1834–1917)

3. Edgar Degas (1834–1917)

Degas surprisingly called himself a realist instead of an Impressionist. Known for depicting the worlds of dance and horse racing, his work betrays the influence of the then-nascent medium of photography, and certainly his canvases captured what would later be called the “decisive moment” in which an image embodies a frozen instance in time. (As in The Dance Class, 1873–1876, where the action seems to have been called to a abrupt halt by the ballet instructor. ) Moreover, Degas abjured painting outdoors like many of his contemporaries. “No art was ever less spontaneous than mine, ” he once remarked. He was born in Paris to a Creole mother from New Orleans and a banker father, and like Manet, chose art over a law career. A difficult person, Degas remained a perennial, as well as misanthropic, bachelor who espoused politically reactionary and anti-Semite views. He died in 1917, five years after he stopped working due to failing eyesight.

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