EDGAR DEGAS - French Impressionist Artist (HD)

Edgar Degas was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings.
Degas is especially identified with the subject of dance; more than half of his works depict dancers.
Although Degas is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, he rejected the term, preferring to be called a realist. Also, he did not paint outdoors as many Impressionists did.
Degas was born in Paris, France, into a moderately wealthy family.
He was the oldest of five children of the De Gas family from New Orleans, Louisiana.
His maternal grandfather, Germain Musson, was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, of French descent, and had settled in New Orleans in 1810.
Degas began his schooling at age eleven, enrolling in the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.
His mother died when he was thirteen, and for the remainder of his youth, he was influenced by his father and several unmarried uncles.
Degas began to paint early in life.
By the time he graduated from the Lycée at age 18, he had turned a room in his home into an artist's studio.
Upon graduating, 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.
Degas was a superb draftsman, and particularly masterly in depicting movement, as can be seen in his rendition of dancers and bathing female nudes.
In addition to ballet dancers and bathing women, Degas painted racehorses and racing jockeys, as well as portraits.
His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and their portrayal of human isolation.
At the beginning of his career, Degas wanted to be a history painter, a calling for which he was well prepared by his rigorous academic training and in-depth study of classical art.