Edgar Degas

Degas objected to being called an Impressionist and had a point. He had little interest in painting outdoors, worked obsessively from drawing, and admired Ingres above everyone. What he shared with the group was a subject: modern Paris, seen off centre and mid movement.

The dancers, which make up a large part of the output, are not romantic. They stretch, scratch, adjust shoes and wait around. He watched rehearsals rather than performances. The same detachment runs through the laundresses, the milliners and the bathers.

He experimented constantly with materials: pastel over monotype, thinned oil on paper, wax sculpture built on armatures. Eyesight problems pushed him toward pastel and then sculpture as the work got larger and rougher. The late bathers, seen from behind and cropped like snapshots, are the furthest he went.