Major Achievements/Works

One of the paintings he did in New Orleans, The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans, garnered favourable attention back in France, and was his only work purchased by a museum (that of Pau) during his lifetime.

he painted historical pictures and realistic portraits of his relatives: Portrait of Marguerite de Gas, the Artist's Sister. (1858-1860), Portrait of Achille de Gas in the Uniform of a Cadet. (1856-57), Portrait of Hilaire de Gas, Grandfather of the Artist. (1857) – 87 year-old head of the family.

By 1860 Degas had drawn over 700 copies of other works, mainly early Italian Renaissance and French classical art. The most important historical work of the period was Spartan Girls Challenging Boys. (c.1860-62). It was exhibited only in 1879 at the fifth Impressionist show, and he kept it in his studio throughout his life.

It was with a historical painting The Suffering of the City of New Orleans . (1865) that Degas made his salon debut in 1865. The picture got little attention. It must have seemed anachronistic and artificial: a medieval landscape setting and naked women bodies were used to symbolize the sufferings of the American city of New Orleans , which was occupied by Union troops in 1862 in the course of the Civil War. The Sufferings... turned out to be his last historical painting.

In the troubled post-war years Degas undertook his longest journey. In 1872 with his younger brother René, he traveled to New York and New Orleans , where his uncle, his mother's brother, Michel Musson, ran a cotton business. Degas stayed in Louisiana for 5 months and returned to Paris in February 1873. In America he fulfilled a number of works. Courtyard of a House in New Orleans . (1872) shows part of the Musson's home in Esplanade avenue and possibly the room that served Degas a studio during his stay. The most important work resulting from his visit to the USA was Portraits in a New Orleans Cotton office. (1873).

Since late 1860s Degas frequently painted jockeys and race horses: Race Horses. (c.1866-68), Carriage at the Races. (1869). From 1870 he increasingly painted ballet subjects: Dance Class. (1871), Dancing Examination. (1874), The Star. (1876-77). Among other reasons they were easier to sell. Degas' ballerinas have determined his popular image to his day.