00:42His father recognized his son's artistic gifts early and encouraged his efforts at drawing by taking him frequently to Paris museums.
00:53Degar began by copying Italian Renaissance paintings at the Louvre and trained in the studio of Louis-le-Motte, who taught in the traditional academic style with its emphasis on line and its insistence on the crucial importance of draftsmanship.
01:12Degar often enlisted his friends to model for his paintings, but none more frequently than Marie Cassette.
01:21She is the subject of at least eight of Degar's works, and scholars believe her likeness appears in many more.
01:30In most of his depictions of the American artist, she plays a specific role.
01:37The unfinished painting Marie Cassette, however, is the only true portrait that he painted of her.
01:43She owned the piece and displayed it in her studio.
01:48Degar also owned numerous works by Cassette.
01:52The location depicted in the portrait is vague, but the table in the background and small pictures Cassette holds suggest that she might be in a photography studio.
02:03Artists and dealers commonly had cartes de visite taken to document works in their possession.
02:11By depicting Cassette as the subject of a portrait, likely holding objects associated with her craft, Degar establishes her as his peer and as a successful artist in her own right.
02:25The painting Marie Cassette is kept in National Portrait Gallery in Washington, the United States.
02:32Portraits at the Stock Exchange was painted in 1879, seemingly chaotic but with great evocative power.
02:43The composition relies on a solid and ingenious structure.
02:47The painter observes his subject with a certain distance.
02:53As the son of a failed banker, Degar knew the world of money makers, but refused to be involved in it.
03:01May dominates the scene.
03:03Around him, other characters suggest the agitation prevalent in the Stock Exchange.
03:10However, the artist does not show their faces or leaves their features indistinct in order to direct attention to the model.
03:19May, with his long pale face, seems incredibly older than his 34 years.
03:26On the other hand, something of the artist's feelings towards the Stock Exchange and the world of finance filters through in the grotesque figures on the left in the background.
03:39As well as depicting his model, Degas is showing the codes and customs of a whole social group representative of its time.
03:54The picture at the races in the countryside was created in 1869.
04:01This painting was one of the first works that Degas sold in 1872 to Paul Duran-Ruel, the dealer who became the early champion of the Impressionists.
04:13It is not only a landscape, but also a scene from everyday life and, most of all, a family portrait.
04:22The driver of the carriage is Degas' friend Paul Valpenson, who is shown with his wife, a wet nurse and, in the nurse's lap, the couple's son Henri.
04:34With its subtly ironic title, the races play a minor role in the composition.
04:40The painting was among the artist's contributions to the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.
04:47Today, at the races in the countryside, is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the United States.
04:55In the Museum of Fine Arts in the Museum of Fine Arts in the Museum of Fine Arts.
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