a blind flaneur

Edgar Degas. The Cotton Exchange. 1873
From Jeffrey Meyers’ Impressionist Quartet (p. 168):
Though Degas recruited the Impressionist painters, he freely criticized their work. He maintained that Monet created nothing but beautiful decorations, and at an exhibition of brightly colored paintings he dramatically exclaimed: “‘Let me out of here. Those reflections in the water hurt my […]

Edgar Degas. Spartan Girls Provoking Boys. c.1860-62. National Gallery, London.
I’ve never cared much for the paintings of Edgar Degas. I’ve stood before his canvases at the National Gallery of Art many times over the years, but they failed to move me. This includes the portrait of his sister-in-law from New Orleans, Madame René de […]