Degas pastel painter famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist.
 

Degas was born into a well-to-do banking family on July 19, 1834, in Paris. He began to paint seriously early in life. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts with Louis Lamothe, under whose guidance he flourished, following the style of the famous French classicist J. A. D. Ingres Ingres. His academic training and close study of classic art had superbly prepared him for history painter career. After 1865, under the influence of the impressionist movement, he gave up academic subjects to turn to contemporary themes. He brought the traditional methods of a history painter to contemporary subject matter, and became a classical painter of modern life.

Degas actually hated the Impressionists and worshipped the act of drawing. Though not in agreement with the Impressionist style, Degas aligned himself with the movement from its beginning in protest against the sterile academic theory and practice. Degas strove for perfection in every possible way. He experimented with graphic media, perfected the art of pastel, made monotypes and etchings and modelled in clay and wax in order to understand the movements of his dancers and racehorses. He never painted on the spot, but composed only after much observation, many studies and a most intimate knowledge of the subject, relying on a prodigious visual memory. Therefore it is a tragic irony that Degas suffered from poor eyesight, eventually not being able to paint at all, and then shunning society in his later years.
 

Degas's reputation has followed an unusual trajectory, rising steeply in his maturity but suffering from the angry retreat of his old age, and from the preference for nonfigurative modes in the new century. Though respected in subsequent decades, he was sidelined by formalist criticism and relegated too often to the role of mere social commentator. The 1960s and '70s saw the beginnings of a major reavaluation of Degas's significance, with specialist publications on his portraits, drawings, prints, monotypes, notebooks, and sculpture, and a growing wave of popular exhibitions. His imagery became a battleground for feminist critics, who centred on the artist's alleged misogyny and the perceived prurience of his brothel and backstage scenes. More recently, the self-consciously elusive quality of much of Degas's depiction has been increasingly acknowledged, as well as his underestimated shift away from topicality in later years. Such debates and discoveries continue to attract vast crowds and to stimulate curators, academics, and practicing artists, suggesting that Degas's full stature has yet to be fully measured.

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