He fascinated with everyday people going about their lives.
Edgar Degas was born in Paris as Hilaire-Germain-Edgar, but everyone called him Edgar.
When Edgar was 11 years old, his parent sent him to one of the best-known school. After he finished school, in 1853, Degas entered law school. Instead of studying law however, Degas went to the Louvre Museum and copied famous paintings.
Degas studied painting for several months in 1854 at Paris’s School of Fine Arts.
In 1855, Degas met the French painter Jean-August Dominique Ingres. Ingres believed drawing skills were important in painting. He told Degas to practice drawing, which Degas did for the rest of his life.
His work reflects early experimentations with capturing movement and light, inspired by new breakthroughs in photography and attitudes towards capturing realism through art.
In 1872, Degas traveled to New Orleans to visit his American relatives. While visiting the family’s cotton plantation, he decided to paint The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans (1873).
Degas completed A Woman Ironing in 1873. At that time, working in a kitchen or laundry was considered menial work.
Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917)
