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| | Paintings in history and the creative style of Edgar Degas:
The absence of a deep tradition in this technique allowed Degas to freely use elastic and supple paper for a base. This paper can be added or removed while working on a composition. In addition, feathering and his own fingers served to create tonal planes, and with a brush and water he applied pigments of pastel pencils into the powder to get a smooth play of colors. His efforts were crowned with the advent of the new vocabulary of realism, just as it was possible to be done in contemporary literature by the brothers Goncourt (Edmond-Louis-Antoine-Jules and Alfred) and Emile Zola. Critics complained of the arbitrariness of the strange points of view, the cut shapes and sloping floors in his paintings. These elements were part of the ideology of realism-naturalism. In fact, the spontaneity of his compositions was concealed by their thorough preparation. Degas was, by definition of Edmond de Goncourt, who visited the studio of the artist, "someone who is better than anyone else, managed, by transcribing modern life, to capture its soul."
Almost ten years before his death, Degas virtually stopped creating his artworks. He lived alone. While Renoir and Monet enjoyed the warmth of family, Degas lived alone in his bachelor apartment, cluttered with a chaotic conglomeration of luxury dusty canvases, objects and rare carpets. Death had claimed many of his closest buddies and his nasty nature deprived him of the society of the few surviving friends. Paul Valéry, who sometimes came to visit Degas in the studio, left a description of a joyless existence of an almost blind artist, who could not write, but drew only a little using charcoal. However, at the age of 80, he was already a recognized artist, his paintings were sold at fabulous prices for that time.
Edgar Degas died on September 27, 1917 in Paris at the age of 83 years, being recognized as a master and popular painter, by rights considered as one of the brightest representatives of impressionism, the original creator. According to the last will of Degas, the funeral was performed modestly, although a lot of old friends assembled in his last journey, among whom were Claude Monet and artist Jean-Louis Foren. Degas asked not to pronounce the funeral speeches during his funeral and was particularly insistent on the fact that if Foren has to say few words, let it be very simple phrase like, "He, like me, loved to draw".
A crater on Mercury was named in honor of Edgar Degas.
Creative manner:
Renoir once remarked that "if Degas had died at fifty, he would have been remembered as a great artist, and nothing more. However, after fifty years of age his creativity expanded so much that he actually became Degas." Perhaps, here Renoir is not quite right. By the time when Degas turned 30, he created paintings that are included in the treasury of world art. On the other hand, Renoir correctly observed that the mature works of Degas were more individualized, they actually "grew" in style - that sets them apart in the first instance from the early works of the artist. Continuing piously believing that the figure in the painting is the bedrock, Degas begins to worry less about the beauty and clarity of outline, expressing himself with the help of the diversity of shapes and richness of color.
Such expansion of the style coincided with the increased interest of Degas to pastels, which gradually became his main material for drawing. In his oil paintings, Degas never attempted to portray a broken texture, the favorite of Impressionists, preferring to paint in a quiet flat style. However, in the works, the artist's approach to pastels becomes much bolder, and he uses color as freely as he used it while working with chalk or charcoal. Pastel, in fact, is on the borderline between drawing and painting, and Degas himself said that it allows him to become a "colorist to the line".
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This is the third contest in the series of contests "Best of Freaking News pictures of 2011". Today's category is the "best painting picture". All the entries were nominated by the Freaking News staff, so this contest is for voting only. Authors, please feel free to edit your authors comments, but please don't change the titles or otherwise edit the entries. Tag funny pix 
