Edgar Degas

Visual Arts French 1834 – 1917 99 quotes

Though often considered an Impressionist, he preferred to be called a Realist, known for his depictions of dancers, bathers, and racehorses.

Quotes by Edgar Degas

I am not afraid of failure, I am afraid of not trying.

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The artist must be a student of life.

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I believe in the power of observation.

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Art is a reflection of the human soul.

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The artist must be a master of light and shadow.

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I am a man of few words, but I have much to say.

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The most important thing is to keep learning and growing.

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Art is a way of communicating without words.

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The artist must be a visionary.

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I am a perfectionist, but I also embrace imperfection.

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Art is vice. You don't marry it legitimately, you rape it.

Letter 1880

One must do the same subject over again ten times, a hundred times. In art nothing must resemble an accident, not even movement.

Interview 1886

The true artist helps you realize the beauty in yourself.

Letter 1890

I would rather do nothing than do modern art.

Conversation 1900

Drawing is not what one sees but what one can see.

Notebook 1880

People call me the painter of dancing girls. It has never occurred to them that my chief interest is in the human body as a whole.

Interview 1885

No art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of a long attentive and considered observation.

Letter 1890

The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is in life.

Observation 1875

What a delightful thing is the conversation of a fine woman.

Letter 1860

Life is too short to paint the unimportant.

Notebook 1895