Impressionist painter Edgar Degas was born in the capital of France, his father was a banker. The boy studied at the School of Fine Arts. His talent was noticeable already from childhood, but he began to create real masterpieces much later.
Historical paintings
At the end of the 1850s, when Edgar was in Italy, he managed to get acquainted with the work of old artists. Soon he returned to France and painted several paintings, which were based on historical subjects (a contest of Spartan boys and girls, Semiramis, laying the city, etc.). But the classic in these canvases was, perhaps, only themes: the Greeks at Edgar were similar to the inhabitants of Paris, and the manner of depiction was quite relaxed and fresh.
Portraits
In the 1860s, the artist painted several amazing portraits, somewhat reminiscent of the works of Ingres, but in general, very original and recognizable. In these paintings, qualities characteristic of all Degas' work are already clearly visible: objectivity, a desire to convey all the details, noble colors, elegance as accurately as possible. The letter can be called soft, like that of Ingres, but the style of the canvas is similar to Manet's masterpieces. Of particular note is the portrait of a woman with flowers - this has never happened in the history of painting. The artist, without further doubt, places the lady on the edge, and part of her body is cut off.
Fashionable trends in art. What did Degas portray?
From the 1860s to the 1870s, the artist often visits the cafe of Gerbois, and also occasionally peers into New Athens. These establishments were often visited also by Manet and his comrades. Degas paintings are regularly shown at exhibitions of impressionist artists. What was considered relevant at that time? First of all, the embodiment in the canvases of immediate emotions, in addition, contemporary artists did not shy from immersion in the life of ordinary people, they drew inspiration from there.
Edgar Degas, whose paintings leave no one indifferent, stood out from the impressionist crowd by depicting exclusively curly compositions, but he soon ceased to limit himself only to portraits and began to write horseback riders, horse racing, stories in cabarets and cafes, laundries, seamstresses, dancers , as well as girls tidying themselves up.
The creator of Paris considered the demonstration of the truth of life to be the meaning of his work. Incidentally, he was always against her embellishment.
An amazing paradox, the prelude to modern cinema
Each picture of Degas is the result of lengthy observations and exhausting work on turning them into a finished image. There was nothing direct in his canvases, he pondered over every detail for a long time, and in this he was similar to Poussin. But all of his paintings are distinguished by the fact that they depict a moment, a very fragile moment. It would seem that Edgar Degas saw a certain image quite by accident and hastily portrayed it. This is the paradox. When looking at the artist’s picture, it may seem that it froze for only a second, and soon all the details on it will come into motion. And so it should be. So plausibly Degas conveyed the frantic rhythm of life characteristic of his time. The artist had a weakness for movement and wanted to depict only him. Renoir said that this is generally characteristic of many creators of that era.
Edgar Degas, whose biography is full of interesting facts, painted the corresponding paintings: running horses, rehearsals of dancers, ballet, women, ironing, combing, dressing up and washing girls. Cloths of the Parisian creator without exaggeration can be called a collection of human movements and poses. In addition, they differ in their original angle, thanks to which even a still image may seem hesitant. Many impressionists added images of oriental prints to their creations, but Degas never did this. However, they were, no doubt, close to him, because they were also dynamic.
The artist can be considered in a sense a prophet, since he preceded the appearance of modern photography and films. It is interesting that the people depicted on his canvases seem to be captured not by ordinary but by a hidden camera. As for the girls, who put themselves in order, Edgar Degas said that until some time the naked women were represented in the pictures in such unnaturally erotic poses that it seemed as if there was an observer in front of whom they flaunted. And his women are completely relaxed and do not try to please anyone, but are fully engaged in washing, combing and dressing.
Prose begets poetry
Degas always wanted to penetrate the secrets of life, and he can be considered both a romantic nature and an objective observer at the same time. In his paintings there are wonderful moments, and rude truth.
You can understand this by examining his canvases, which are based on ballet. He portrays a theatrical “backstage” and a fabulous performance unfolding on the stage. The rustic and absolutely unromantic ballerinas turn before our eyes into elegant fairies, it is prose that gives rise to poetry. How well Edgar Degas understood this pattern! The ballerina becomes a graceful butterfly, she just needs to start her dance.
Using pastels, changing style
With age, Degas increasingly begins to turn to pastels, as a rule, combining it with gouache, lithography or monotype. He liked her because of his noble softness, combined with the richness and severity of the shade, as well as beautiful dullness. Over time, the style of the artist becomes more and more monumental. There is no more variety of small details, and color and line merge into one. Pretty tangible change in creativity. As for the later paintings by Degas, in them the most important place is occupied by color, this radiant, free, amazing element.
In the canvases depicting ballerinas written at the end of the century, the artist, still skillfully capturing the moment, is already heading towards a more monumental vision of the twentieth century, he can even be considered a harbinger of Fauvism.
Figurines
For almost his entire life, Degas made sculptures: he made figures of clay horses and colored wax, figures of running horses, dancers in elegant poses, and girls putting themselves in order. Toward the end of his life, the artist developed an eye disease, and he could no longer paint pictures, but was only concerned with these figurines. Edgar Degas, whose sculptures were unknown to the world for a long time, hid yet another talent from the public. His last years were dramatic: the creator, who surprised his comrades with impeccable eyesight, died very poorly seeing.
"Blue dancers"
Separately, it should be said about this picture. At the first glance at it, it may seem that music is about to sound, pure shades so brightly and joyfully shine. This picture embodies complete looseness and freedom. However, critics and viewers often scoffed at the artist for “cutting off" the image, they said that Degas simply did not manage to harmoniously place an object or person on the canvas, to fit into its size.
This painting was painted in pastel, as mentioned above, Edgar Degas loved her, because it allowed us to combine line and color. Several dancers seemed to merge into one, the whole canvas is saturated with the idea of harmonious movement. What is before us: a frozen moment of rehearsal, performance? Or is the image of the same girl depicted on canvas, but from different angles? Probably, the viewer will not ask this question, as he will be fascinated by the radiance of a heavenly color, which in some areas is darker and lighter in others. Skirts shimmer and sparkle, bewitching with their splendor ...
Thanks to this picture, a wide circle of people learned who Edgar Degas is. The Blue Dancers brought him fame.
“The figure in motion”
Recently, the Hermitage hosted an exhibition entitled “The figure in motion”, on which Degas sculptures were demonstrated. These figurines seemed to have come down from paintings. Many of the thirty bronze figures of the Parisian master were made back in the period when he created the canvases. Some are based on an absolutely original idea that has no analogues. For example, the “Bath” figurine needs to be watched from above — nothing like this has ever happened in sculpture history.
The master never showed his statuettes, with the exception of the Little Dancer. Degas dressed her in real fabrics, which critics categorically did not like. After this incident, the artist created the figures exclusively "for the soul", and not for exhibitions.
Edgar Degas never made bronze. He made his sculptures from wax, as well as clay. The master liked these materials. He could change anything at will, for example, the position of the horse’s legs.
At an advanced age, when Degas was already poorly seen, he made only such figures. After his death, 150 wax figurines were found in his apartment - almost all of them were similar to his canvases: ballerinas, washing women, horse riders.
The relatives of the artist made the discovered sculptures bronze, as a result, 74 figures were obtained, which were given to the best museums.
To all the people who visited this exhibition, such a wonderful creator as Edgar Degas opened in a new way. The “figure in motion” has become a real sensation for art lovers.