This article is taken from Figaro Special Edition
Paris 1874, Rising Sun Impressionism. Discover in this issue
the artistic epic of Monet, Renoir, Degas, Berthe Morisot, Pissaro, Sisley, Cézanne… and this gust of new wind that was Impressionism.
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Three evenings a week, in a tailcoat and top hat, Edgar Degas goes to the Opera. The one on rue Le Peletier, all white and gold, with the shallow orchestra pit, where “the French grand opera” was invented, renowned for its spectacular staging and sumptuous decorations, which burned in 1873 and was replaced by the Opéra Garnier.
Is it the limelight, the sparkling sequins, the costumed fantasies that he seeks? Never. Gallant adventures, perhaps, in this place popular with men of good Parisian society? Even less ! Since studying…