1834–1917

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas was born in Paris and trained in the academic tradition, admiring Ingres. He exhibited in most of the Impressionist exhibitions while preferring to call himself a realist. He is best known for ballet dancers, racecourse scenes, cafés and women bathing, often seen from unusual angles with asymmetrical cropping. He worked extensively in pastel and made wax sculptures; most of the bronzes were cast after his death. His eyesight declined in later life, and he died in Paris in 1917.

Where to see Edgar Degas: Art Institute of Chicago (3 works); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (5 works); National Gallery of Art (7 works); National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian (1 work).

Public-domain works: Henri Degas and His Niece Lucie Degas (The Artist's Uncle and Cousin), 1875–76; Portrait of Mme Lisle and Mme Loubens, c. 1867; Portrait after a Costume Ball (Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin), 1879; Portrait of a Woman in Gray, ca. 1865; Portrait of a Young Woman, ca. 1885; Marie Dihau (1843–1935), 1867–68; The Old Italian Woman, 1857; Edmondo and Thérèse Morbilli, c. 1865; Mademoiselle Malot, c. 1877; Madame Camus, 1869/1870; Young Woman with Her Hand over Her Mouth, ca. 1875; René de Gas, 1855; Madame René de Gas, 1872/1873; Self-Portrait with White Collar, c. 1857; Achille De Gas in the Uniform of a Cadet, 1856/1857; Mary Cassatt, c. 1880-84.