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Edgar Degas Art

French, 1834-1917

Edgar Degas, born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas in Paris in 1834, was the oldest of five children of Célestine Musson De Gas, a Creole from New Orleans, and Augustin De Gas, a banker. Degas began his schooling at age eleven, enrolling in the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, but after his mother died when he was thirteen, his father and grandfather became the main influences on him for the remainder of his youth.

Upon graduating the Lycée in 1853, at age 18, he registered as a copyist in the Louvre Museum, but his father expected him to go to law school. Degas duly enrolled at the faculty of law of the University of Paris, in November 1853, but applied little effort to his studies. In 1855, Degas met Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, whose advice he never forgot: “Draw lines, young man, and still more lines, both from life and from memory, and you will become a good artist.” In April of that year, Degas was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts.

Evidence of Degas’ classical education can be seen in his early painting, Young Spartans Exercising (ca. 1860; National Gallery, London), done while he was still in his twenties. After 1865, when the Salon accepted his history painting The Misfortunes of the City of Orléans (Musée d'Orsay, Paris), Degas did not paint Academic subjects again, focusing his attention on scenes of modern life. He began to paint scenes of such urban leisure activities as horse racing and, after about 1870, of café-concert singers and ballet dancers. Degas' interest in ballet dancers intensified in the 1870s, and eventually he produced approximately 1,500 works on the subject. These are not traditional portraits, but studies that address the movement of the human body, exploring the physicality and discipline of the dancers through the use of contorted postures and unexpected vantage points.

Following the opening of trade with Japan in 1854, many French artists, including Degas, were increasingly influenced by Japanese prints. Degas abstracted from these prints their inventive compositions and points of view, particularly in his use of cropping and asymmetry [Dancers Practicing at the Bar (1877); Dancers, Pink and Green (ca. 1890)]. He also observed how sixteenth-century Italian Mannerists similarly framed their subjects, sometimes cutting off part of a figure.

Degas had an interest in a wide range of media, including engraving, monotype, and photography. Before 1880, he generally used oils for his completed works, but after 1875, he began using pastels more frequently, even in finished works such as Portraits at the Stock Exchange (1876). He submitted a suite of nudes, all rendered in pastel, to the final Impressionist exhibition in 1886; among these was Woman Bathing in a Shallow Tub (1885). The figures in these pastels were criticized for their ungainly poses.

By the late 1880s, Degas’s eyesight had begun to fail, perhaps as a result of an injury suffered during his service in defending Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. After that time he focused almost exclusively on dancers and nudes, increasingly turning to sculpture. Degas continued working as late as 1912, when he was forced to leave the studio in Montmartre in which he had labored for more than twenty years. He died five years later in 1917, at the age of eighty-three.

Find original Edgar Degas drawings, prints, paintings and other art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Stern Pissarro Gallery)

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Artist: Edgar Degas
Edgard Degas: Horse Clearing an Obstacle (work 48 /certified by Comité Degas)
By Edgar Degas
Located in Gent, VOV
Horse Clearing an Obstacle (work number 48) Bronze with dark brown green patina bearing the stamp of the signature "Degas", Numbered IV/IX and dated 1998 Posthumous lost wax casting as of 1998. Stamp of Valsuani. Signed Degas The work is a sought-after rarity in terms of Degas’ sculptures. This bronze is distinguished by the fact that it is a Valsuani bronze, meaning it faithfully records Degas’ wax version’s as it appeared at the time of its creation. Most Degas' bronzes that are found on the market were cast by Hébrard – these serialized bronzes are surmoulages, or “aftercasts,” that were cast from the modèle bronzes currently in the Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena). Because these Hebrard bronzes...
Category

1880s Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Bronze

Dancer Putting on Her Slipper - Etching
By Edgar Degas
Located in Paris, IDF
Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917) Dancer Putting on Her Slipper (Dancer Tying Her Brodequin) Heliogravure after a pastel by the artist Engraved by J. Chauvet Signed in the plate On vellum, 50...
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Early 20th Century Edgar Degas Art

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Dancer fastening the shoulder strap of her bodice – Edgar Degas, bronze cast by
By Edgar Degas
Located in Gent, VOV
A superb bronze cast of Edgar Degas’ iconic dancer, Danseuse agrafant l’épaulette de son corsage presents a moment of disarming intimacy: a young ballerina absorbed in adjusting the ...
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20th Century Modern Edgar Degas Art

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Eugenie Gershoy (January 1, 1901 – May 8, 1986) was an American sculptor and watercolorist. Eugenie Gershoy was born in Krivoy Rog, Russia (Krivoi Rog, Ukraine) and emigrated to New York City in the United States as a child in 1903. Considered somewhat of a child prodigy, Gershoy was copying Old Master drawings at the age of 5. Her interest and talent in art was encouraged from a very young age. Aided by scholarships, she studied at the Art Students League under Alexander Stirling Calder, Leo Lentelli, Kenneth Hayes Miller, and Boardman Robinson. Around this time, she created a group of portrait figurines of her fellow artists, including Arnold Blanch, Lucile Blanch, Raphael Soyer, William Zorach, Concetta Scaravaglione, and Emil Ganso, which were exhibited as a group at the Whitney Museum of American Art. At age 17, she was awarded the Saint-Gaudens Medal for fine draughtsmanship. Early in her career she became an active member of the Woodstock art colony. In Woodstock she experimented by sculpting in the profusion of indigenous materials that she found. Working with fieldstone, oak and chestnut, Gershoy created works based on classic formulae. As she became more interested in the dynamism of everyday life, she found that these materials and her idiom were too restrictive. By the time Gershoy came to Woodstock in 1921 her own individual artistic style was already evident in her sculptures. Eugenie Gershoy worked in stone, bronze, terracotta, plaster and papier-mache. Gershoy’s sculptures were mainly figurative in nature and many of her artist peers such as Carl Walters, Raphael and Moses Soyer, William Zorach and Lucille Blanch, became her subjects. Eugenie Gershoy’s works on paper should not be overlooked. She was the winner of the Gaudens Medal for Fine Draughtsmanship at the tender age of 17. Gershoy married Jewish Romanian-born artist Harry Gottlieb. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the pair kept a studio in Woodstock, New York. There, Gershoy was influenced by sculptor John Flanagan, who lived and worked nearby. From 1936 to 1939, Gershoy worked for the WPA Federal Art Project. She collaborated with Max Spivak on murals for the children's recreation room of the Queens Borough Public Library in Astoria, New York. She developed a mixture of wheat paste, plaster, and egg tempera, which she used in polychrome papier-mâché sculptures; she was the only New York sculptor to work in polychrome at this time. She also designed cement and mosaic sculptures of animals and figures to be placed in New York City playgrounds. Alongside others employed by the FAP, she participated in a sit-down strike in Washington, DC, to advocate for better pay and improved working conditions for the projects' artists. Gershoy's first solo exhibition was held at the Robinson Gallery in New York in 1940. She moved to San Francisco in 1942, and began teaching ceramics at the California School of Fine Arts in 1946. In 1950, she studied at the artists' colony at Yaddo. Gershoy traveled extensively throughout her life. She visited England and France in the early 1930s, and worked in Paris in 1951. She traveled to Mexico and Guatemala in the late 1940s, and also toured Africa, India, and the Orient in 1955. In 1977, Gershoy dedicated a sculpture to Audrey McMahon, who was actively involved in the creation of the Federal Art Project and served as its regional director in New York, in recognition of the work McMahon provided struggling artists in the 1930s. Gershoy's work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her papers are held at Syracuse University Grant Arnold introduced her to lithography in 1930 and Gershoy depicted many scenes of Woodstock artists and their daily activities through this medium. 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Mid-20th Century American Modern Edgar Degas Art

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Previously Available Items
Danseur Debout
By Edgar Degas
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
Like this dancer, Degas‘s pictures of the ballet hover precariously between the magic of the footlights and the realities of life backstage. We watch this performance in close-up, ei...
Category

20th Century Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Etching

Danseur Debout
H 13.5 in W 10 in D 5 in
Danseur Tournant on Blue
By Edgar Degas
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
Like this dancer, Degas‘s pictures of the ballet hover precariously between the magic of the footlights and the realities of life backstage. We watch this performance in close-up, ei...
Category

20th Century Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Etching

Actresses in Their Dressing Rooms
By Edgar Degas
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Actresses in Their Dressing Rooms etching & aquatint, 1879-1880 Unsigned as usual for all canceled plate impressions Reference: Delteil 28, Shapiro 50 vi/vi with the cancelation line...
Category

1870s Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Aquatint

Certified Edgard Degas Bronze of a horse : (Horse walking at a high pace)
By Edgar Degas
Located in Gent, VOV
Cheval marchant au pas relevé is one of the artist’s most elegant and exacting models of a horse. It underscores Degas’s deep understanding of equine anatomy and his ability to render it with lightness and charm. Known for his focus on contemporary subjects, Degas first began depicting horses in the 1860s. As a member of the prestigious Jockey Club in Paris, Degas was a habitué of the racecourses at Deauville and Longchamps, where he could study the beauty of thoroughbred horses at close quarters. Although the artist was not an active participant himself, equestrian sports fascinated Degas throughout his life, as it allowed him to capture the full range of the horse’s movement in a wealth of poses. Bronze with dark brown patina bearing the stamp of the signature "Degas", numbered IV/IX and dated 1998. Posthumous lost wax casting as of 1998. Stamp of Valsuani. The work is a sought-after rarity in terms of Degas’ sculptures. This bronze is distinguished by the fact that it is a Valsuani bronze, meaning it faithfully records Degas’ wax version’s as it appeared at the time of its creation. Most Degas' bronzes that are found on the market were cast by Hébrard – these serialized bronzes are surmoulages, or “aftercasts,” that were cast from the modèle bronzes currently in the Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena). Because these bronzes are second generation, they are smaller and far less detailed than the current bronze. This example, however, was cast by Valsuani from a plaster that was taken directly from Degas’ waxes, according to scholarship by the art historian Dr. Gregory Hedberg. These plasters were created by Degas’ sculptor friend Albert Bartholomé shortly after Degas completed his wax figurines. Thus, they record the earliest versions of Degas’ wax sculptures, before they were damaged by time or handling, and before Degas himself altered the works. The Hébrard bronzes...
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Cavalier
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Mary Cassatt at the Louvre - Original etching (Delteil #29)
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Edgar Degas Mary Cassatt at the Louvre Original etching, softground, aquatint and drypoint Probably an impression from the cancelled plate edited by Ambroise Vollard c. 1880 Unsign...
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Late 19th Century Modern Edgar Degas Art

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Fourth Position Front, on the Left Leg
By Edgar Degas
Located in New Orleans, LA
Signed, numbered, dated, and stamped with foundry mark “Degas / 6G / 1998 / CIRE C.VALSUANI PERDUE” Bronze This extraordinary bronze sculpture of a dancer in motion was conceived by the great Impressionist Edgar Degas. Entitled Fourth Position Front, on the Left Leg, the bronze exhibits an exceptional level of balance and poise. Her graceful carriage and seemingly effortless control over her body is enhanced by the expressivity of her execution - the most minute details and textures of Degas' original wax are beautifully translated in the superb bronze cast. Degas pursued the art of sculpture during the latter years of his career, crafting in wax all of his favorite subjects, from horses to women to dancers of the ballet. It was his dancers that most intrigued him in sculptural form, and of the seventy-four wax sculptures he is known to have created, over half of them depicted dancers. These creations emerged as a stunning three-dimensional representation of his highly expressive late painting style, and the present figure is no exception. Caught mid-movement in a common ballet pose, she appears arrested in time, a picture of grace and elegant movement captured in bronze. The work is a sought-after rarity in terms of Degas’ sculptures. Not only are his dancers the most desirable of his work, but this bronze is also distinguished by the fact that it is a Valsuani bronze, meaning it faithfully records Degas’ wax version’s pose as it appeared at the time of its creation. Most Degas' bronzes that are found on the market were cast by Hébrard – these serialized bronzes are surmoulages, or “aftercasts,” that were cast from the modèle bronzes currently in the Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena). Because these bronzes are second generation, they are smaller and far less detailed that the current bronze. This example, however, was cast by Valsuani from a plaster that was taken directly from Degas’ waxes, according to scholarship by the art historian Dr. Gregory Hedberg. These plasters were created by Degas’ sculptor friend Albert Bartholomé shortly after Degas completed his wax figurines. Thus, they record the earliest versions of Degas’ wax sculptures, before they were damaged by time or handling, and before Degas himself altered the works. The Hébrard bronzes...
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20th Century Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

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1997 Edgar Degas 'Naked Woman Lying on Her Stomach' Impressionism Neutral, Gray F
By Edgar Degas
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paper Size: 28 x 39.5 inches ( 71.12 x 100.33 cm ) Image Size: 36.5 x 22.75 inches ( 92.71 x 57.785 cm ) Framed: No Condition: B: Very Good Condition, with signs of handling or ag...
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1990s Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Offset

Danseur Tournant
By Edgar Degas
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
French painter and sculptor, Degas (1834-1917) is known to be one of the most important representatives of Impressionism. His innovative compositions and particular analysis of movem...
Category

1930s Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Etching

Danseuse a la barre
By Edgar Degas
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
French painter and sculptor, Degas (1834-1917) is known to be one of the most important representatives of Impressionism. His innovative compositions and particular analysis of mov...
Category

1930s Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Etching

Antique Bronze Sculpture Edgar Degas, "Tête, étude portrait de Madame S, " 1892
By Edgar Degas
Located in Portland, OR
Antique Bronze Sculpture, "Tête, étude pour le portrait de Madame S" by Edgar Degas (1834-1917), 1892. Original bronze female bust with brownish gold patina on stone base (cast 1919-37). With the incised signature and numbered 11/S, lower verso. Cast by A.A. Hébrard, Paris, with the foundry mark lower verso. This bronze was featured in the Swann Galleries March 13th 2018 catalogue, page 51. Published in Czestochowski and Pingeot, Degas Sculptures...
Category

1880s Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Marble, Bronze

Danseuse Mettant son Chaussonm, Impressionist Etching
By Edgar Degas
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Edgar Degas Title: Danseuse Mettant son Chausson Medium: Original Etching from Cancelled Plate Edition: Out of 150, Second and Final State Publisher: Vollard, Paris Dimensi...
Category

1880s Impressionist Edgar Degas Art

Materials

Etching

Edgar Degas art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Edgar Degas art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Edgar Degas in bronze, metal, aquatint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 19th century and is mostly associated with the Impressionist style. Not every interior allows for large Edgar Degas art, so small editions measuring 3 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Paul Cézanne, Albert Besnard, and Louis Abel-Truchet. Edgar Degas art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $450 and tops out at $1,664,319, while the average work can sell for $62,102.

Artists Similar to Edgar Degas

Questions About Edgar Degas Art
  • 1stDibs ExpertSeptember 16, 2024
    How much a Degas ballerina may be worth depends on its condition and other factors. In 2022, a cast made after Degas's original Little Dancer sold for $41.6 million at auction. The original Little Dancer is in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Though no valuation for this piece has ever been shared, it is likely worth significantly more. If you own one of the bronze casts of the piece, a certified appraiser or knowledgeable art dealer can provide you with a valuation. Find a diverse assortment of Edgar Degas art on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertAugust 20, 2024
    How much an Edgar Degas painting is worth depends on its history, condition and other factors. In 2008, the pastel and gouache work Danseuse au repos (ca. 1879) sold at a Sotheby’s New York auction for $37 million. The work is an excellent example of Degas' famous depictions of ballerinas, portrayed in an Impressionist style. Through his ballerina paintings, Degas sought to capture the inner worlds of dancers and the difficulties they faced as an exploration of the challenges posed by modern life. If you own a Degas painting, a certified appraiser or knowledgeable art dealer can assist you with the valuation process. Find an assortment of Edgar Degas art on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertAugust 15, 2024
    Answers vary as to what Edgar Degas's most famous painting is called because opinions differ about which of the artist's works is the most famous. Some people associate the French artist the most with his depictions of ballerinas, such as The Ballet Class, The Dancing Class and The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage. However, many of Degas's other works are also widely known and are on different themes, such as city views and portraits. Among them are In a Café, The Bellelli Family, Place de la Concorde and Interior. Explore a range of Edgar Degas art on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertSeptember 16, 2024
    How much a Degas sketch is worth depends on its size, medium, condition, historical significance and other factors. In 2008, a pastel, gouache and charcoal sketch by the French artist entitled Danseuses à la Barre sold for around $17,000 at auction. Portraying ballerinas in a dance studio, the work reflects Degas’s interest in dance as a subject, a theme he returned to many times over the course of his career. If you're in possession of a Degas sketch, consider having a certified appraiser or knowledgeable art dealer assist you with the valuation process. On 1stDibs, shop a variety of Edgar Degas art.

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