Degas | Dancer Studies

EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917): Together with Monet the founder of French Impressionism, Edgar Degas was famous for his innovative compositions in his paintings and later in his sculptures. Degas created a tremendous amount of artwork. For example, just with his ballerina images and sculptures, the surviving artworks total more than 1,500 in various stages of development (sketches, prints, monotypes, paintings, drawings, and sculptures). For 10 years he sketched the young women training and then reused the sketches for new artworks during the next 40 years. The early rehearsal scenes were done in oil; and in 1878, he started using pastels for his dancers, nudes, and horse-track scenes.