The eldest child of a wealthy Parisian family, Degas had a classical education at the Lycee Louis-le-Grand and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.  Degas was one of the first to recognize Gaugin's genius.
His eyesight began failing in 1880, and he was practically blind when he died in 1917.

The Ballerina
Edgar Degas, 1834-1917, French
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
