The Conversation

1886

The eighth exhibition: pastel nudes, and the end of the group

At the last Impressionist exhibition Degas showed a suite of pastel nudes, which drew more critical writing than anything else in his lifetime, mostly laudatory. The group broke up, partly through rancour over the inclusion of non-Impressionists such as Forain and Raffaëlli.

after 1886

Into the shadows: he stops exhibiting

After 1886 Degas stopped exhibiting and sold his pictures at high prices through a narrow circle of agents. By the end of the decade he had in effect fulfilled his wish to be “famous and unknown”, withdrawing among close friends.

late 1880s

A passion for photography

Degas photographed his friends, often by lamplight, as in the double portrait of Renoir and Mallarmé. Photographs of dancers and nudes served as references for his drawings and paintings.

1890s

The Dreyfus Affair: a break with his Jewish friends

The Dreyfus Affair intensified Degas's antisemitism: by the mid-1890s he had broken with all his Jewish friends and refused to use models he thought might be Jewish; the affair also set him at odds with Mary Cassatt. He remained among the Anti-Dreyfusards until his death.