First Arabesque Penchée

late 1880s

A passion for photography

Degas photographed his friends, often by lamplight, as in the double portrait of Renoir and Mallarmé. Photographs of dancers and nudes served as references for his drawings and paintings.

1890s

The Dreyfus Affair: a break with his Jewish friends

The Dreyfus Affair intensified Degas's antisemitism: by the mid-1890s he had broken with all his Jewish friends and refused to use models he thought might be Jewish; the affair also set him at odds with Mary Cassatt. He remained among the Anti-Dreyfusards until his death.

1912

A forced move, and the end of his work

In 1912 the impending demolition of his house on the rue Victor Massé, where he had lived for years, forced Degas to move to the Boulevard de Clichy; he apparently ceased working then, although he is known to have used pastel as late as the end of 1907 and is believed to have made sculptures until 1910. In his last years, nearly blind and unmarried, he wandered restlessly through the streets of Paris.

1915

Cassatt and Degas shown in aid of women's suffrage

Louisine Havemeyer organized a joint exhibition of Cassatt and Degas held in aid of women's suffrage; Cassatt later expressed satisfaction at the irony.

27 September 1917

Died