Paintings by Edgar Degas. 7 outstanding paintings by the artist

Edgar Degas is considered to be impressionists. Indeed, his ability to stop the moment of life on his canvases makes him related to this particular direction in painting.

His works seem to be created spontaneously, with lightning speed, but this is a deceptive impression. This is exactly what Degas differed from the Impressionists.

If Claude Monet could create a picture in 10 minutes to stop the moment of a natural phenomenon, then Degas worked only in the studio, carefully prepared and wrote one work for months.

Spontaneity in the works of Degas is only imaginary and is the result of unusual and unconventional compositional solutions and effects.

For example, his characters do not look at the viewer (with the exception of custom-made portraits), most often being in motion. They are busy with their own affairs, their thoughts. And Degas only watches them and captures one single frame from their lives. How does he do it?

Here are some of my favorite works, in which Degas' skill to stop the moment is especially pronounced.

1. Blue dancers.

“Blue Dancers”, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful works of Degas. The radiance of the blue color and the elegance of the poses of the dancers deliver a truly aesthetic pleasure.

Degas liked to paint ballet dancers in the most unexpected angles. This picture is no exception. We are watching them from above, so we only see their shoulders and waists. They don't look at us, they just straighten their dresses before the start of the performance.

Degas tended to cut corners to further emphasize the spontaneity of the depicted. Two ballerinas in the painting “Blue Dancers” “did not get into the frame” completely. This further emphasizes the “snapshot” effect.

Read more about this work in the article. "Degas' Blue Dancers: 5 Unbelievable Facts About the Painting".

2. Basin for washing.

One of Degas' favorite themes is naked women taking a bath, combing their hair or drying themselves with a towel.

In the painting “Basin for washing”, the artist chose a very strange compositional solution, cutting off the right corner of the picture with a table with toiletries. It seems that the viewer has just entered the room where the woman is washing, and is looking at her from the side.

Degas himself wrote about such paintings that he was trying to create the feeling in the viewer that he was peeping through a keyhole. He obviously succeeded.

3. Ballet from the opera box.

Any other artist would have depicted only a scene with dancers. But not Degas. According to his idea, it is you, the spectator, who are watching the ballet, not him.

To do this, he paints a picture as if from a box and a spectator sitting in a box with a fan and binoculars accidentally gets into the frame. Agree, an extraordinary compositional solution.

Test your knowledge by completing online test "Impressionists".

4. Miss La La at the Fernando Circus.

The famous acrobat is depicted from a very unusual angle. Firstly, her figure is shifted to the upper left corner, as if it is the viewer, and not the artist at all, who is looking at the artist.

Secondly, the figure is drawn from below, which greatly complicates the composition. You really need to be a great master to portray a person from such an angle.

5. Absinthe.

Degas was also a master at depicting people's emotions. Perhaps one of the most striking works in this regard is the painting "Absinthe".

Two visitors to the cafe are sitting very close, but they are so immersed in themselves, including under the influence of alcohol, that they do not notice each other at all.

For this picture, his acquaintances, an actress and an artist, posed in the studio. It got to the point that after writing it, they began to whisper about their addiction to alcohol. Degas had to publicly speak out that they were not prone to this addiction.

The painting “Absinthe” also has an unusual composition – both figures are shifted to the right. On the site Museum d'Orsay I read an interesting version that Degas wanted to emphasize the not entirely sober look of the visitor, which he allegedly casts on the images.

6. Dancer in her dressing room.

Degas, perhaps, more often depicted dancers not on stage, for their direct occupation, but in completely ordinary circumstances.

So, he has several pictures of dancers busy with their toilet in the dressing rooms. Together with the artist, we kind of spy on the behind-the-scenes life of the artists. And there is no place for staging: things on the floor and the table are in a slight mess. This carelessness is emphasized by careless strokes of blue and black paint.

Read about another unusual picture with ballerinas in the article. “Dancers Degas. The story of the salvation of one picture.

7. Ironers.

Degas was fond of writing working women for several decades of his work. Before him, ordinary women, in particular laundresses, depicted only Honore Daumier.

Also, the life of ordinary women who earn their living by not the most noble occupation was also shown by Edouard Manet, which shocked the public a lot. His paintings "Olympia" и "Nana" are among the most outrageous of their time. And the bathers and commoners of Degas are already a tribute to the new tradition of depicting the life of different people, and not just mythical goddesses and noble ladies.

The work of the “Ironer” is notable not only for the most ordinary gesture and pose of the heroine, who does not hesitate to yawn at the top of her lungs. But also by the fact that the paints are applied to the raw canvas, which creates a heterogeneous “sloppy” texture of the canvas.

Perhaps, using this technique of overlaying colors, Degas wanted to further emphasize the spontaneity and routine of the depicted moment of someone else's life.

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Edgar Degas created paintings fundamentally different from academics and even impressionists. His paintings are like snapshots of someone else's life, without staged scenes and scenery.

It was as if he deliberately sought to remain unnoticed for his hero in order to capture the most intimate in his movements, postures and emotions. This is the genius of this artist.

If you are interested in the life and work of Edgar Degas, I also recommend reading the article:

“Friendship of Edgar Degas with Edouard Manet and two torn paintings” 

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