Dancers by Edgar Debas showing dancers in tutus practising in large room with huge windowsEdgar Degas.
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas
Dancers by Edgar Debas showing dancers in tutus practising in large room with huge windowsEdgar Degas. Public domain. Fogg Museum
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas (Degas, July 19, 1834-September 27, 1917) is best known for his pastel drawings and oil paintings, particularly of dancers. He helped organise the early Impressionist exhibitions, but never regarded himself as one of them. He despised the idea of working in the open air: ‘You know what I think of people who work out in the open. If I were the government I would have a special brigade of gendarmes to keep an eye on artists who paint landscapes from nature. Oh, I don’t mean to kill anyone; just a little dose of bird-shot now and then as a warning’.