| 1853 At age eighteen
and a half Degas receives permission to copy at the Louvre in Paris. In
order to develop their own skills, nineteenth-century artists copied paintings
by the old masters, studying their drawing and painting techniques.
1854 Copies Raphael paintings at the Louvre.
1855 Degas is taken by Édouard Valpinçon,
the father of his friend Paul and an art collector, to visit the painter
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). Degas admired Ingres's work
and believed, as the great master did, in the primary importance of drawing
in the creation of a work of art. During the eighteenth century, much was
made of the rivalry between Ingres the draftsman and Eugène Delacroix
(1798-1863), who placed greater emphasis on the role of color in painting.
Degas was enamored of both artists and acquired their works for his own
art collection.
Degas is admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts.
1856 Lives and travels in Italy.
1859 Returns to Paris.
1860 Travels to Italy for a brief stay.
1862 Meets Édouard Manet in the Louvre while copying
Velázquez's painting The Infanta Margarita directly onto
a copper plate.
1864 Visits Ingres.
1865 Paints A Woman Seated Beside a Vase of Flowers
(Madame Paul Valpinçon?).
1865 through 1870
Exhibits at the Salon; these works are not given significant attention
by critics.
1866 Paints The Collector of Prints.
1868 Degas begins getting recognition as an artist. He
is a frequent visitor and prominent member of the group who visit the Café
Guerbois located at 11 grande rue des Batignolles (today 9 avenue de Clichy).
There he gathers with other avant-garde artists such as Édouard
Manet, Paul Cézanne, Henri Fantin-Latour, Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Frédéric Bazille, and Camille
Pissarro.
Registers for the last time as a copyist at the Louvre.
1870 Degas writes a letter to the Salon jury that is published
in the Paris Journal on April 12, 1870; the letter offers suggestions
on ways to improve the exhibition of works of art.
July 19 The Franco-Prussian War begins after Napoleon III
of France and Otto von Bismarck of Prussia order their respective troops
to arms.
Degas enters the National Guard as a volunteer.
September
The Third Republic is proclaimed.
March 18, 1871
Proclamation of the Commune of Paris, a radical Republican government.
Civil war ensues. The Commune lasts only two months.
1873 The art dealer Durand-Ruel buys Degas's Woman Ironing.
December 27
Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Morisot, and Cézanne form the
Société Anonyme Coopérative à Capital Variable
des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs, etc. (the Société
Anonyme des Artistes) devoted to free, nonjuried exhibitions, the sale
of works exhibited, and the publication of an art journal.
April 15, 1874
Opening of the first exhibition of the Société Anonyme
des Artistes at 35 boulevard des Capucines, now considered the first Impressionist
exhibition. Degas's works receive mixed reviews. Some critics detest them,
while others write about him favorably and name him the leading figure
among the new group of artists later known as the Impressionists. Degas
exhibits The Dancing Class (1871).
The Société Anonyme des Artistes dissolves due to poor
attendance and a general lack of interest on the part of the public.
March 30, 1876
Opening of the "2me Exposition de Peinture" at Galerie Durand-Ruel,
11 rue Le Peletier (the second Impressionist exhibition); Degas exhibits
twenty-two works of art, including The Dance Class (1874) and Woman
Ironing (1873).
By this time, Degas has befriended Edmond Duranty (1833-1880), the critic
and author of The New Painting: Concerning the Group of Artists Exhibiting
at the Durand-Ruel Galleries. Duranty publishes this text as a thirty-eight-page
pamphlet in which he discusses the problems of academic painting and the
role of avant-garde artists in revitalizing painting. Duranty does not
mention the names of the Impressionists, but his examples include references
to specific subjects painted by Degas. It was clear to his readers that
Duranty considered Degas the most important member of the group as evident
in passages about the importance of the setting or background of a picture,
the significance of using subjects from modern life, and the need for adopting
new artistic practices and stylistic devices in order to accomplish these
goals.
April 4, 1877
Opening of the "3me Exposition de Peinture" (which was actually the
first time the exhibition was considered an exhibition of Impressionist
painters), at 6 rue Le Peletier; Degas exhibits twenty-three paintings
and pastels, including Dancers Practicing at the Bar. He also shows
three groups of monotypes.
April 10, 1879
Opening of the "4me Exposition de Peinture" (the fourth Impressionist
exhibition), at 28 avenue de l'Opéra; Degas shows twenty paintings
and pastels and five fans. Many critics praise his work and single him
out from his contemporaries. Others persist in responding to his work with
sarcasm and derision.
April 1, 1880
Opening of the "5me Exposition de Peinture" (the fifth Impressionist
exhibition), at 10 rue des Pyramides. Degas shows paintings, pastels, drawings,
and prints. Degas receives high praise from the critics.
September
In a letter to his friend Ludovic Halévy Degas laments that
he has to paint ballet scenes over and over because of the demand by the
public. |
