People call me the painter of dancers, but I really wish to capture movement itself. Edgar Degas More Quotes by Edgar Degas More Quotes From Edgar Degas Art critic! Is that a profession? When I think we are stupid enough, we painters, to solicit those people's compliments and to put ourselves into their hands! What shame! Should we even accept that they talk about our work? Edgar Degas stupidartthinking What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it's charming. Edgar Degas charmingunderstandingconversation One does not marry art. One ravishes it. Edgar Degas doeinspirationalart There is a kind of success that is indistinguishable from panic. Edgar Degas panickindsuccess In painting you must give the idea of the true by means of the false. Edgar Degas givingmeanideas Your pictures would have been finished a long time ago if I were not forced every day to do something to earn money. Edgar Degas finishedhas-beenslong I'll buy a bottle for anyone who can tell me what makes a picture beautiful! Edgar Degas bottlesbeautiful There is no such thing as Intelligence; one has intelligence of this or that. One must have intelligence only for what one is doing. Edgar Degas intelligence What is certain is that setting a piece of nature in place and drawing it are two very different things. Edgar Degas drawingdifferenttwo It's easy to have talent at 20 but what is difficult is to have talent at 50. Edgar Degas difficulttalenteasy I put it [picture "A still life of a pear" by Edouard Manet] there [on the wall, next to the picture "Jupiter and Thetis" by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres], for a pear like that would overthrow any god. Edgar Degas jupiterwallartist The artist does not draw what he sees, but what he must make others see. Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things. A picture is first of all a product of the imagination of the artist; it must never be a copy. If then two or three natural accents can be added, obviously no harm is done. The air we see in the paintings of the old masters is never the air we breathe. Edgar Degas airtwoart A picture is a thing which requires as much knavery, as much malice, and as much vice as the perpetration of a crime. Make it untrue and add an accent of truth. Edgar Degas knaveryvicesadd Even in front of nature one must compose. Edgar Degas compositionfronts Once they witnessed one of his painting sold at auction for $100,000. And asked how you do it, he said, 'I feel as a horse must feel when the beautiful cup is given to the jockey.' Edgar Degas horsebeautifulart Nothing in art should seem accidental, not even movement Edgar Degas movementshouldart Work a great deal at evening effects, lamplight, candlelight, etc. The intriguing thing is not to show the source of the light but the effect of the lighting. Edgar Degas etceveninglight The air you breathe in a picture is not necessarily the same as the air out of doors. Edgar Degas breatheairdoors The frame is the pimp of painting; it enhances it, but it must never shine at the painting's expense. Edgar Degas pimppaintingshining If I were in the government I would have a brigade of policemen assigned to keeping an eye on people who paint landscapes outdoors. Oh, I wouldn't want anyone killed. I'd be satisfied with just a little buckshot to begin with. Edgar Degas governmenteyepeople
