Edgar Degas

Original compilation of 41 full-page and 6 half-page drawings - some finished sketches, others studies - depict dancers on stage, in the classroom, and at rehearsals. Charming, spirited views of dancers pirouetting, executing grand battements and ports de bras, practicing at the barre, adjusting their costumes in moments of repose, and more.

Germain Hilaire Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834 - 1917): Dans le cercle des impressionnistes, c'est de Renoir que Degas fut le plus proche : tous deux préférèrent comme motif de leur peinture le Paris vivant de leur époque. Degas ne passa pas par l'atelier de Gleyre et fit probablement connaissance avec les futurs impressionnistes au café Guerbois. En 1853, il commença à faire son apprentissage à l'atelier de Louis-Ernest Barrias et, à partir de...

Degas was closest to Renoir in the impressionist's circle, for both favoured the animated Parisian life of their day as a motif in their paintings. Degas did not attend Gleyre's studio; most likely he first met the future impressionists at the Café Guerbois. He started his apprenticeship in 1853 at the studio of Louis-Ernest Barrias and, beginning in 1854, studied under Louis Lamothe, who revered Ingres above all others, and transmitted his adoration...