Edgar Degas Influences

Edgar Degas was a French artist whose works include paintings, sculptures, and drawings. He was born on July 19, 1834, in Paris, France. His parents, Célestine Musson and Auguste De Gas, had a total of five children and Edgar was the oldest. The family was affluent and Edgar was expected to attend Law School to become a lawyer, but instead wanted to become an artist. He graduated high school with a literature degree in 1853, but studied drawing at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, two years later. Throughout his life, Degas had met and became acquainted with fellow artists like Édouard Manet, for example, who he had met at the Louvre one day. Although he appreciated Manet and his work, as Degas aged he began to isolate himself. He thought that artists’ should not have personal lives. Degas spent his last years in solitude, and was never married nor did he have …show more content…
Other French artists, like Monet and Renoir, had set the “impressionistic tone” that had influenced art in the 1800s. Degas, on the other hand, strayed a bit from impressionism although he had many good impressionistic works. He had been somewhat influenced by the realism movement as well, and captured moments as true to form as possible. Such examples include his many artworks of dancers or just French people doing everyday tasks. Degas also had a different was of creating his art. He preferred to paint people instead of the outdoors like many impressionist artists did. He specifically enjoyed painting dancers, and capturing their movements. They were never posed, and he was always capturing things in motion. His artwork contained no broad strokes and was detailed oriented, contrary to usual impressionist technique other artists had been using. Edgar also tended to plan out his paintings before completing them. This style set set Degas apart and made him stand out. Degas had another take on how he viewed and created his impressionistic