Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Edgar Degas, born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas

French Artist famous for his work in Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking and Drawing, regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, preferring Realist

"Everybody had talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty."

"In painting you must give the idea of the true by means of the false."

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. "

"What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it's charming."

"No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the great masters."

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