The 100 famous paintings that tell the story of Edgar Degas

Degas is linked to the Impressionists without ever allowing himself to be absorbed by etiquette. He participates in their exhibitions, defends their independence and shares their interest in modern life, but prefers to call himself realistic or independent. Where Monet sets up his easel in front of the changing light, Degas returns to the studio, drawing, studies and compositions taken up. The moment seems seized; in reality, he was questioned with a patience that would make a clock blush.

His training is classic. He copied the masters at the Louvre, stayed in Italy from 1856 to 1859 and began with portraits and historical subjects. The Bellelli Family retains this monumental ambition: the space, the furniture and the distances between the characters tell as much as the faces. Very early on, portraiture became a matter of tension, not a simple distribution of good manners.

In the early 1860s, horse racing paved the way for modern subjects. Horses stopped, jockeys waiting and false starts interest Degas because the movement is contained there before bursting. He doesn't just paint speed; he paints his preparation, his imbalances and his seconds of hesitation. The stopwatch can stay in the pocket: the composition already takes care of the rhythm.

The Opera then became his large laboratory. Degas shows the rehearsal rooms, the bar, the musicians, the masters and the subscribers as often as the stage itself. The dancers stretch, adjust their slippers, wait their turn or resume a gesture. This attention to work distinguishes his images from the purely magical visions of ballet: the tutu shines, certainly, but it had to repeat.

Cafés, milliners, laundresses and ironers extend this observation of Paris. Absinthe places two figures side by side without bringing them together; The Cotton Office transforms a commercial activity into a collective portrait; workers give physical weight to repeated gestures. Degas looks at modernity where it tires, concentrates or is bored, that is to say precisely where it becomes human.

In the 1880s, toilet scenes and nudes still moved the point of view. The Tub, presented in 1886, combines diving, deliberately distorted perspective and pastel material. The figure does not pose for the viewer: it washes, dries, styles. This autonomy of gesture gives the images their strength and sometimes their strangeness. The bathroom becomes avant-garde terrain, which was not provided for in the plumbing regulations.

Pastel finally allows Degas to push color and material. In late dancers, the contours strengthen, the blues, oranges and greens vibrate, and the bodies tighten into almost abstract groups. The artist's vision weakens, but his language does not fade: he simplifies, accentuates and begins again. Precision changes shape without giving up discipline.

This Top 100 follows this trajectory: ambitious portraits, races, Parisian life, Opera, work, toiletries and late covers. The masterpieces open the route, then the lesser-known works show the continuity of research based on drawing, movement and framing. Degas did not paint the same dancer a hundred times; he asked a hundred different questions to the same gesture.