A View Into The World Of Edgar Degas's Art

A View Into The World Of Edgar Degas's Art

Posted by Elizabeth Taylor on 26th May 2021

Art has the power to transform the look of your home. It infuses new life into your interiors, brightens your space, and adds much-needed aesthetics! A room decorated with beautiful and eye-catching artworks is likely to give off a much more positive impression than a room without art.

Art offers variety- you can choose anything that matches your taste. If you have a penchant for detailed paintings, you should look into Impressionist artworks. We recommend wall hanging art prints of Edgar Degas’s masterpieces. Read on to know more!

Who Was Edgar Degas?

Edgar Degas, one of the founders of Impressionism, was born on 19th July 1834 to Célestine Musson Degas and Augustin De Gas in Paris. Degas was a versatile artist- he is best known for his oil paintings and pastel works and was also skilled in creating bronze sculptures.

Degas started painting quite early in his life. By the age of 18, he had turned his room into a painting studio. He signed up as a copyist in The Louvre Museum but had to let go of it, as his father wanted him to pursue law. Edgar met Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in 1855 and was greatly influenced by him. In the same year, he got into École des Beaux-Arts- a highly esteemed art school in France, where he learned and flourished under Louis Lamothe.

Initially, Edgar Degas aimed to be a history painter and religiously prepared for it. Later around his thirties, he decided to merge the classical and contemporary arts, giving birth to masterpieces that deemed him the classical painter of modern life. His paintings mainly dealt with contemporary subjects like ballet dancers, bathing women, racehorses, and racing jockeys, but were all painted following the traditional methods of classical art.

What Is Impressionism?

Deriving its name from Claude Monet’s masterpiece titled ‘Impression, Soleil levant’ (Impression, Sunrise), Impressionism is an art movement that originated in the 19th century in France. It is characterized by thin, small, and precise brushstrokes, with a primary focus on the accurate depiction of the play of light.

Impressionism also concentrated on open compositions, but Edgar Degas worked more on the complex psychological portraits of humans. Despite being an Impressionist artist, he was not fond of the term and preferred to call it ‘Realist’ art.

Edgar Degas prints will blend well with modern home decor while also adding a little traditional touch. If you plan to purchase a few wall hanging art prints of this famed Impressionist artist, you can find them on our online shopping site!