Artist Stories

The Private Collection of Edgar Degas

Zuzanna Stańska 28 December 2016 min Read

Edgar Degas was one of the greatest Impressionists. He was also an art collector. His collection, revealed after his death, was remarkable not only for its quality, size, and depth but also for its revelation of Degas’s artistic affinities. It included a great numbers of works by the nineteenth-century French masters like Ingres, Delacroix, and Daumier. He bought, or bartered his own pictures for, art by many of his contemporaries, particularly Manet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Cassatt, Whistler. In total, Degas owned more than… five thousand works.

Everything was sold when the collection came up for auction in Paris in 1918 in what was called the sale of the century and was widely dispersed. Here you will find a couple of highlights from Degas’ collection:

1. El Greco, Saint Ildefonso

El Greco, Saint Ildefonso, c. 1603/1614, National Gallery of Art
El Greco, Saint Ildefonso, c. 1603/1614, National Gallery of Art

2. Mary Cassatt, Girl Arranging Her Hair

Mary Cassatt, Girl Arranging Her Hair, 1886, National Gallery of Art
Mary Cassatt, Girl Arranging Her Hair, 1886, National Gallery of Art

3. Mary Cassatt, In the Loge

Mary Cassatt, In the Loge, c. 1879, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Mary Cassatt, In the Loge, c. 1879, Philadelphia Museum of Art

4. Paul Cezanne, Apples

Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Apples, 1875-77, The Fitzwilliam Museum
Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Apples, 1875-77, The Fitzwilliam Museum

5. Édouard Manet, The Ham

Edouard Manet, The Ham, 1875-78, Glasgow Museums, The Burrill Collection
Edouard Manet, The Ham, 1875-78, Glasgow Museums, The Burrill Collection

6. Édouard Manet, The Execution of Emperor Maximilian

Edouard Manet, The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, 1867–68, National Gallery, London
Edouard Manet, The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, 1867–68, National Gallery, London

7. Vincent van Gogh, Still Lives With Fruit

Vincent Van Gogh, Still-life with Fruit, 1887, Art Institute of Chicago
Vincent Van Gogh, Still-life with Fruit, 1887, Art Institute of Chicago

8.Vincent van Gogh, Two Sunflowers

Vincent van Gogh, Two Sunflowers, 1887, Musée d'Orsay
Vincent van Gogh, Two Sunflowers, 1887, Musée d’Orsay

9. Honoré Daumier, Don Quixote Reading

Honore Daumier, Don Quixote Reading, 1865-67, National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff
Honore Daumier, Don Quixote Reading, 1865-67, National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff

11. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Roger Freeing Angelica

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Roger Freeing Angelica, 1819, Musée du Louvre
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Roger Freeing Angelica, 1819, Musée du Louvre

12. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Oedipus and Sphinx

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1827, Musée du Louvre
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1827, Musée du Louvre

13. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot in Mourning

Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot in Mourning, 1897, private collection
Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot in Mourning, 1897, private collection

14. Paul Gauguin,The Moon and The Earth

 

Paul Gauguin, The Moon and the Earth, 1893, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Paul Gauguin, The Moon and the Earth, 1893, Museum of Modern Art, New York

15.Paul Gauguin, La Belle Angéle

Paul Gauguin, La Belle Angele, 1889, Musée d'Orsay
Paul Gauguin, La Belle Angéle, 1889, Musée d’Orsay

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