Edgar Degas Research Post

For my next post, I will be talking about Edgar Degas. Degas was born on July 19, 1834 of French decent.  By 1845, he had begun school at Lycee Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Degas frequently visited Italy to study the works of great artist before him, such as Michelangelo.  Upon returning to France, he continued his art education by copying works at the Louvre.  Throughout Degas' life he was mostly ignored by the public.  Hardly any of his paintings were sold, let alone put in a museum.  Degas was thought of as an Impressionist, but to himself he was a Realist.

For my assignment, I am to select three of his works that I like. 

My first is called "Little Dancer of Fourteen Years."

I really love this piece because of the medium that Degas uses. Many paintings of dancers use a lot of light colors, but this is very dark and somewhat mysterious.  I also like this piece because I think it is interesting that Degas has his subject stand in such a simple pose instead of having a more intricate pose.

My second work of is called "The Rehearsal."

The way that Degas captures the shadows and the natural light in this painting is very appealing to me.  It creates a lot of visual interest throughout the piece and draws the viewer in. This painting is located in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Degas' third piece is called "Ballet Rehearsal on Stage 1847."

I love how it seems that this painting is almost black and white.  It emphasizes on shadow and light and creates an amazing affect. I believe this is on of Degas' best pieces. This piece is located in Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

I really enjoy a lot of Edgar Degas' work. Like I said before he shows a lot of difference between light and shadow.  Also Degas was one of the first few artists who began a technique that almost made their pieces look like photographs. Parts of his subject would be cut off to give a more realistic look. I'm really glad I had this opportunity to learn about an artist and hope to now notice many of Degas pieces all around.