Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was a French artist famous for his paintings, pastels, and sculptures of ballet dancers, racehorses, and the daily life of Parisian women. Though he exhibited with the Impressionists, he preferred to call himself a Realist and never liked painting outdoors. His compositions often look like candid snapshots, with figures cropped at the edges and viewed from unexpected angles.

Degas was also a serious sculptor, though most of his wax and clay figures weren't cast in bronze until after his death. Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, his only sculpture exhibited during his lifetime, scandalized audiences in 1881 with its lifelike realism. Over 150 posthumous bronzes survive. Our collection includes 6 works at the Art Institute of Chicago.