Edgar Degas Died on 27 September 1917: On This Day in Art, Plus the Week in Review
On 27 September 1917, Edgar Degas died in Paris at the age of 83. For half a century he had been one of the sharpest eyes in French painting: he showed ballet dancers rehearsing, racehorses at the start line and women at the laundry, all with an unsentimental precision. He died with the First World War still raging, almost blind, and having painted nothing for five years. What happened to his studio in the months after his death is one reason we can still see so much of his late work today. Quick facts What: Death of the painter and sculptor Edgar Degas Where: Paris, France When: 27 September 1917 (born in Paris, 19 July 1834) Who: Edgar Degas, one of the founders of the Impressionist exhibitions Section: On This Day in Art + Weekly Roundup What happened Degas's eyesight had worried him for most of his adult life. His eye problems were first detected in 1870, during rifle training in the Franco-Prussian War, and after 1890 his vision got much worse. He kept working in past...