GaGa for Edgar Degas!

Today was the first day of Spring in New York. I rode my pink bike across Central Park over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, praying they would have parking space for bicycles and they DID!!! Oh joy! I just bought this bike two weeks ago and I've been dying to ride it through the park but it has been raining every single day since. And the fact that I have no regard for bike paths or wearing proper attire (like a helmet) makes me the perfect candidate for getting yelled at by random people on the streets of New York City. Sorry folks!

So, I made it to the Met and I had no idea what I wanted to see. I took the elevator to the 2nd floor to the paintings floor. I randomly selected a hall and that's where my eyes started to go GaGa OooLaLa! Who is this amazing painting by?..and this one? and this one? All by Edgar Degas, the French impressionist painter. At the museum, I learned that he liked to paint from pictures and enjoyed photography, which is why the composition of most of his paintings are very spontaneous and realistic, like in the 'Absinthe' (see below.)

I rushed home to read more about this amazing talented artist and here are some interesting factoids:

1. Had a long 60 year career and never married. When asked why he never married, he said he never wanted to hear his wife say that his paintings are "pretty". How genius is that? I love that answer because it's hilarious.
2. Eldest of 5 children and from a wealthy family of bankers. I don't know anything about art history but I doubt many famous painters came from wealthy families...?
3. BFF with Manet, who was almost the same age as he and came from a prosperous family. They hung out at the same cafes, in the same social circles and influenced each other's works.
4. Influenced by music and Opera, which is why the subject of many of his paintings were dancers, often in spontaneous poses. This one looks like a photograph and you can almost hear the instructor talking if you pay close attention...I kidd.

Toward the end of his life, Degas started to go blind and he changed his style of painting to accommodate his deteriorating eye sight. Renoir once said that "Degas painted his best things when he couldn't see anymore" (see example below).

He did become very famous while he was still alive and sold paintings for very high prices but he never wanted the attention. He once said "I would like to be famous but unkown!" He really believed that artists must live alone and their private lives must remain unknown. Sounds like a bit of a uppity grouch to me but who cares about his personality..his work speaks for itself. Edgar died at 83 years of age.