Degas

Artists are expected to be difficult, controversial and even crazy. It goes with the territory. But I find it extremely difficult to reconcile the exquisite work of Edgar Degas with the man he was: cruel, hateful, unapologetically racist. When I look at his breathtaking pastel nudes, his ultra-feminine ballet dancers and his energetic and vibrant race horses, I get chills. As an artist he was beyond brilliant, but as a man he was beyond the pale. Such sensitively executed art shouldn't ever have to be so intimately linked to such a shit of a human being. Frankly, it makes me feel cheated that these masterpieces are so tainted by the man who made them. Perhaps this is very naive thinking on my part, but I can't help myself.

Out of the Paddock, 1882

Blue Dancers, 1899

The Tub I from Suite of Nudes, 1886

All photos courtesy of edgar-degas.org.