
Edgar DegasFrench, 1834–1917May one see it?
New York, United States
On public display.
1855
Meets Ingres; the École des Beaux-Arts
In 1855 Degas met Ingres, whom he revered, and was advised to draw lines and still more lines, from life and from memory. In April of that year he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied drawing with Lamothe.
July 1856 – 1859
Three years in Italy
In July 1856 Degas left for Italy, where he stayed for three years. He copied Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian but, contrary to convention, usually picked out of an altarpiece a detail that caught his eye — a secondary figure or a head that he treated as a portrait.
1861
The first studies of horses
Visiting his childhood friend Paul Valpinçon, Degas made the earliest of his many studies of horses.
1862–1864
Meets Édouard Manet
Manet introduced Degas to the circle of future Impressionists. Degas shared their rejection of the academic Salon but would not work in the open air.