Edgar Degas 

Great artists teach us to see life through a different lens and perspective. Imagine that you had to live your whole life nearsighted never allowing yourself to see at a distance or Imagine living your whole life farsighted, never allowing you to see close up. Just as there are different lenses to see close up and far away there are different ways of seeing what you think you are seeing. Discovering creative perspectives from artists instructs and encourages us to see life using our own unique creative lens.

Edgar Degas saw beauty in specific moments that revealed our simple humanity. One of these beautiful subjects were ballet dancers. He choose to largely depict them practicing, taking a break, and observing them back stage. He also used photography as a tool to capture a moment and freeze it so he could paint from the image later on. Studying Degas might open up a door for us to see beauty in simple moments in life. Perhaps he will teach us to slow down and see that there is a lot of beauty all around us but we fail to see those moments?

Edgar Degas - French: 1834-1917 was a French artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. He is especially identified with the subject of dance; more than half of his works depict dancers.  Regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, he rejected the term, preferring to be called a realist. He was a superb draftsman, and particularly masterly in depicting movement, as can be seen in his rendition of dancers, racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and for their portrayal of human isolation.

Below discover one of the studios of Edgar Degas. Click on each button to view videos and dynamics of this great artist. Use the assessment at the bottom of the page to write down your own thoughts about the work of Degas.

Observing a Degas up close.

Spend a few moments observing the two Degas paintings below, then ask yourself the questions listed below each image.

QUESTIONS to CONSIDER:

1. What is this ballerina doing?

2. At what time of her performance is she dancing, the beginning, middle or end? What is the evidence of your conclusion?

3. What do the dark colors convey emotionally?

4. Is she leaving, bowing, or standing still? What is the evidence of your thoughts?

5. What is she standing on?

Although he recorded any number of subjects over his long career—jockeys at the racecourse, bathers, and during his one visit to the United States, a New Orleans cotton exchange—Degas is best known for his many images of the world of dance. It was a culture that held endless fascination for the artist, it allowed him to explore the human figure in all its movements and contortions, and he genuinely enjoyed the ballet, the most intensely visual of the non-visual arts. In more than 1500 works of art, Degas painted, drew, etched, and modeled dancers in wax as they rehearsed, performed, rested, and waited in the wings. In Ballet Scene, Degas captured a performance in all its whirling spectacle of physical action and artificial lighting. The dancer at stage left moves toward the proscenium and completes a demi-plie. Cast in dramatic and somewhat eerie shadow, only the dancer’s legs, torso and the lower part of her face are illuminated by the stage lights before her. The large oval form in the foreground may be the start of a head in profile. Degas often juxtaposed the smaller form of a dancer on stage with the much nearer faces of audience members or musicians in the orchestra.

QUESTIONS to CONSIDER:

1. From where is the light coming from and why does it not hit the rest of the stage?

2. Where are you the viewer sitting?

3. Does this composition look better cropped with the ballerinas leg cut off? Why would Degas do this?

For French learners- Can you understand and answer the following simple questions in French?

1. Edgas était un rappeur, vrai ou faux?

2. Edgas était un rappeur, vrai ou faux?

3. Edgas Degas est né d'une famille pauvre à Paris, vrai ou faux?

Assignment Number One:

Degas often drew on dark papers using white and black conte crayon, ink or chalk. This allows the paper to become a dramatic stage for highlights of light. Using everyday grocery bags, tear out a 8x10” piece to work on. This paper is very heavy and allows you to beat it up in many ways. You may use watercolors and mixed media on the paper as well. When balled up and then ironed out, the paper gives a unique texture to the art.

Below is a sample of a work of art on grocery bag paper. Notice the texture of the paper that is created by wetting the paper and balling it up, then ironing it out. Continue painting, wetting the paper, balling it up and ironing it out until you obtain the texture you desire.

Saint Francis, Dove and the Wolf by Daniel Bonnell, 8x10”, mixed media on grocery bag paper

Assignment Number 2:

Drag the image below to your desktop and print it out. Use color pencils to make the image come alive. Notice the contrasting figure against the background. Print this image out on a heavy stock paper to work in watercolor.

Assignment Number 3: Complete the assessment form below

Art Vocabulary: impressionism, visual rhythm, values, focal point, perspective, texture, balance