Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degaswas 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. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, although 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 renditions of dancers, racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are notable...
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth19 July 1834
CityParis, France
Hitherto the nude has always been represented in poses which presuppose an audience. But my women are simple, honest creatures who are concerned with nothing beyond their physical occupations... it is as if you were looking through a keyhole.
I'm glad I haven't found my style yet. I'd be bored to death.
C'est vrai. Voilá quelqu'un qui sent comme moi. (It is true. There is someone who feels as I do).
Women can never forgive me; they hate me, they feel that I am disarming them. I show them without their coquetry.
Truth is never ugly when one can find in it what one needs.
Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty.
You have to have a high conception, not of what you are doing, but of what you may do one day: without that, there's no point in working.
Monet's pictures are always too draughty for me.
Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.
Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.
I want to be famous but unknown!
A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people
It seems to me that today, if the artist wishes to be serious - to cut out a little original niche for himself, or at least preserve his own innocence of personality - he must once more sink himself in solitude. There is too much talk and gossip; pictures are apparently made, like stock-market prices, by competition of people eager for profit; in order to do anything at all we need (so to speak) the wit and ideas of our neighbors as much as the businessmen need the funds of others to win on the market. All this traffic sharpens our intelligence and falsifies our judgment.
You must aim high, not in what you are going to do at some future date, but in what you are going to make yourself do to-day. Otherwise, working is just a waste of time.