Edgar Degas Biography

Edgar Degas was born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas in Paris on July 19th, 1834. His father was a banker and Degas grew up rather wealthy. When he was thirteen, his mother died, and his father and grandfather soon became major influences in his life. Degas abandoned the more pretentious spelling of his name and enrolled in school, graduating with a baccalaureat in literature. Early in his life Degas had begun to paint, and had turned a room in the house into an art studio. He became a copyist at the Louvre and soon met Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, who would become his mentor and inspire him to pursue art full time.

After graduating from college he briefly attended law school at his father's request. It didn't take long for Degas to quit law school and move on to art school, where his studies helped him develop his artistic style. While living in Naples with his Aunts family, Edgar Degas often painted copies of famous works by Michelangelo and Raphael to help further his talent. It was here that he began his studies for what would become his first masterpiece, The Bellelli Family.

In 1859 Degas moved into a studio in Paris large enough to begin painting The Bellelli Family, which would take almost ten years to complete and would later become the most famous Edgar Degas painting. Degas joined the National Guard in 1870 during the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. During his service in the war he learned that his eyesight was beginning to deteriorate. After the war, Degas fled France to spend a year with his brother Rene, who lived in New Orleans. It was there that he painted The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans, which became the only Edgar Degas painting to be purchased by a museum while he was still alive.

The year after Degas returned to Paris, his father died. In the estate proceedings that followed, it was learned that Degas' brother Rene had accumulated many business debts. Degas was forced to sell his house and art collection in order to preserve the family name, and it wasn't before long that he found himself relying entirely on sales of his art to survive. Degas became acquainted with a number of young artists in Paris that were attempting to launch an underground movement of independent art exhibits. Before long, Degas and the others began showcasing their art in many exhibits around the city, the last of which took place in 1886

Edgar Degas angrily rejected the label of an Impressionist that had been handed to him by the local media over the years, and he soon began exploring other media to break out of this mold. As the years passed, Degas became secluded from friends and family. His increasingly anti-Semitic views had caused many people to abandon him, and by the end of his life all his friends had left him behind. Edgar Degas was never married, lost most of his sight, and died alone in Paris on September 27th, 1917.