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French Impressionist & Realist Artist Known for His Ballet Dancer Paintings and Pastel Mastery

Edgar Degas was a renowned French artist celebrated for his evocative portrayals of movement and modern life, especially his iconic works featuring ballet dancers. Though often associated with the Impressionist movement, Degas preferred the label Realist, emphasizing draftsmanship, form, and psychological depth over fleeting light effects.

Degas mastered various media—including oil painting, pastel, sculpture, and printmaking—and is especially admired for his innovative use of pastel in capturing the grace and tension of the human figure. His ballet-themed artworks, which make up over half of his known output, remain some of the most beloved in the history of art.

Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts and influenced by classical painters like Ingres, Degas brought a disciplined, analytical approach to his compositions. At the same time, his interest in modern Parisian subjects—such as dancers, laundresses, and café scenes—placed him at the forefront of 19th-century avant-garde art.

Beyond painting, Degas also explored sculpture, most notably with his Little Dancer of Fourteen Years—a revolutionary mixed-media work that blended realism with theatricality. Today, Edgar Degas is celebrated as a foundational figure in both Impressionist and modern realist traditions, known for his deep sensitivity to the human form and his pioneering visual language.

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