Edgar Degas: Painting Motion
1860 AD
1860 1860
02.20E48.51N
ART

PARIS, FRANCE
	Capturing a moment on canvas was not enough for impressionist painter Edgar Degas. He wanted that moment to have action.
	Initially Degas painted historical scenes, such as Spartan youths exercising, or a Medieval war scene, but soon he began painting contemporary action scenes, such as horseracing. These sporting scenes began to appear in his works in 1860, and scenes from the theater in 1868.
	Degas eventually became known for his dancers, but actually he wasn't interested in the dancers for themselves. What people didn't realize, he said, was "that for me the dancer has been a pretext for painting fabrics and representing movement."
	He liked nothing better than catching an ordinary woman in an ordinary action, such as yawning or stretching or scratching her back. But he liked nothing less than landscapes. "If I were the government," he said, "I would keep a company of policemen watching out for anyone who painted landscapes from nature."
	Degas also differed from fellow impressionists by preferring indoor to outdoor lighting. Nor did he think much of spontaneity. "No art was ever less spontaneous than mine," he said. "What I do is the result of reflection and study of the great masters. Of inspiration, spontaneity, temperament, I know nothing."
	Later in life, Degas became a hermit and began to hate newspaper people, especially the critics. He lost his sight in one eye and saw imperfectly from the other. Possibly because of his failing eyesight, he began to use brighter, pure colors.
