The painter most like you

You are most like Degas

When others watch the stage, you watch what happens behind it

The Dance Class · 1874

Your nature

You are someone who watches backstage

This is a playful reading of your nature, not a scientific personality test.
The grey lines below come from Degas's real life and work.

Your strength
You are a sharp observer. You remember even a small gesture others missed.
Degas prepared his pictures by sketching dancers' movements over and over.
When you shine
You sparkle when you find an angle nobody else has seen.
He painted the places where Parisians worked and played, such as racetracks, theatres, laundries and hat shops.
What wears you out
Places that value style over skill tire you out quickly.
As his eyesight worsened with age, he relied more on pastel and sculpture.
How you work
You don't finish in one go. You build a big picture from many studies.
He made many small wax sculptures of dancers and horses.
With other people
Even if your words come out sharp now and then, you tend to stay loyal to friends whose talent you recognise.
He recognised Mary Cassatt's talent and invited her to show with the Impressionists.
How you rest
Going to see a show or a match in person is your best recharge.
Degas also painted horses and jockeys at the racetrack many times.

Why Degas?

You notice things. Degas preferred rehearsal rooms and practice to the glamour of the performance. He made hundreds of pictures of dancers. In The Dance Class, too, the dancers rest and wait their turn in front of the teacher.

He exhibited with the Impressionists, but he liked to call himself a realist. Rather than painting outdoors, he built his pictures in the studio from studies and memory.

Degas's pictures often cut off abruptly at the edges or look down from above. They are thought to show the influence of Japanese prints and of photography, then new. As a young man he studied by copying old masters in the Louvre.

If you never miss the moment and remember the scenes others walk past, you have Degas's eye.

Kindred painter · Opposite painter

Among the eight painters,
who is near and who is far

Kindred painter
Seurat
You trust preparation over luck, and principles over impulse
You share the habit of stacking up studies and working out a composition at length. You appreciate each other's care better than anyone.
See the Seurat result →
Opposite painter
Monet
The same view looks new to you whenever the light changes
The Monet type rushes outdoors to catch the light of the moment, the opposite direction from you. Together you would see both the inside and the outside.
See the Monet result →

Spend a day like this painter

Today, like Degas

Three small ideas. Trying just one is enough.

At a café or a bus stop, watch only one person's hands for five minutes.
When you take a photo, crop the edge a little on purpose and change the composition.
At a show or a game, look at the people beside and below the stage too.

Edgar Degas

Step into Degas's paintings

While you are here, stand in front of a painting for three minutes.
For each one, here is where to look first.

The Dance Class1874
How to lookLook at the teacher leaning on his stick and the dancers waiting before him. A stringed instrument lies by the music stand at lower left.
The Millinery Shop1879-86
How to lookCompare the hats set out on their stands with the one the woman holds and examines.
Henri Degas and His Niece Lucie Degas (The Artist's Uncle and Cousin)1875–76
How to lookLook at Henri holding his newspaper and Lucie with her hand on the back of the chair. Both are dressed in black.