LWD Artist of the Month ~ Degas

For our February Artist of the Month I’ve chosen Edgar Degas. I’ve long admired his work and was fortunate to see some of it at an exhibit in the Oklahoma City Museum of Art several years ago. Absolutely stunning!

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Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas was a French Impressionist artist (although he rejected that description of his art), born in 1834 and educated in the classics at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.

He is especially known for his paintings of ballerinas but laundresses and milliners were also frequent subjects.

Now for a humorous story about Degas. We were in New Orleans with friends and we called for an Uber. A middle-aged woman picked us up in her minivan. I don’t recall how the conversation began but for some reason she proceeded to give us a lecture on everything we might have ever wanted to know about Degas. And a lot more we had no idea we needed to know. She talked the entire 10-15 minute drive and barely took a breath.

For some reason, the longer it went on, the funnier it became. Not her “lecture” but just the fact that she had taken it upon herself to educate us about this French Impressionist. None of the four of us dared to make eye contact with one another because we knew we would start laughing.

It was only after we got out and she had driven off that any of us dared say a word. Then we all cracked up. We had so many questions. First of all, did she give this talk to all of her rides or did we just look like art lovers who would appreciate her encyclopedic knowledge of Degas?

You can read more about Degas below. Or if you’re ever in New Orleans, perhaps you’ll get our Uber driver/art expert – ha!

Edgar Degas (1834–1917): Painting and Drawing

Edgar Degas and his paintings

This is the book I’ve purchased for my study of Degas:

Edgar Degas: 6 Minute Art History Video