Self-Portrait by Degas in the Getty Center, June 2016

Title: Self-portrait

Artist/Maker: Edgar Degas (French, 1834 - 1917)

Culture: French

Date: 1857 - 1858

Medium: Oil on paper, laid down on canvas

Dimensions: 21 × 16.2 cm (8 1/4 × 6 3/8 in.)

Markings: Stamped in the lower right corner with the estate stamp "Nepveu/Degas"; stamped on verso of canvas with the estate stamp "Nepveu/Degas"

Alternate Titles: Self-Portrait (Display Title)
Self-Portrait (Display Title)
Degas with fedora (Degas au chapeau mou) (Published Title)

Department: Paintings

Classification: Paintings

Object Type: Painting

Object Number: 95.GG.43


In this self-portrait a young Edgar Degas turns his head to look out at the spectator. He wears casual clothes, including an open collar and broad brimmed hat. The informal, extreme close-up view of Degas's face and his impassive, almost sullen expression echo the unpretentiousness of his clothing. The small-scale, informal presentation and lightness of touch emphasize the intimacy of this image and the still-tentative character of the young artist.

Around 1857, when he was twenty-three or twenty-four, Degas traveled to Italy, where he spent much of his time making copies after Renaissance masters. The period was one of self-education and he drew prolifically, writing in one of his notebooks, "I must thoroughly realize I know nothing at all; it is the only way to get ahead." Finding in himself a willing sitter, he made fifteen or more self-portraits in various media during his time in Italy.


Text from: www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/494/edgar-degas-self-portrait-french-1857-1858