Edgar Degas Quotes

A picture is something which requires as much knavery, trickery, and deceit as the perpetration of a crime. Paint falsely, and then add the accent of nature.

Hitherto the nude has always been represented in poses which presuppose an audience. But my women are simple, honest creatures who are concerned with nothing beyond their physical occupations… it is as if you were looking through a keyhole.

The artist does not draw what he sees, but what he must make others see.

Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.

Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.

In painting you must give the idea of the true by means of the false.