Edgar Degas was a french proto-impressionist artist who lived during the 19th century. His early to middle life's work consisted mostly of paintings which show borderline impessionistic characteristics. However, despite these qualities, Degas strictly rejected the impressionist label and instead preferred the term realist. Later in life, he shifted media from painting to soft pastel. During this time, his work sacrificed detail for motion and texture. Furthermore, many of his later life's pieces were left unfinished, to which he blamed his failing eyesight.
Without a doubt, my favorite of his works were all created during the latter half of his lifetime. This is largely because his use of texture and movement is much more intuitive. His latter works have incredibly lively compositions that are bursting with energy. Additionally, the unfinished quality many possess seems to emphasize the most important parts of the composition while leaving out all the needless visual information. By being so selective with his drawings, they appear much purer. Lastly, the simplified figures are much more dynamic than his early work. The shadow and light occupy a sharper breadth of space which makes his figures pop out. The effect is certainly convincing. Ultimately, I prefer this naturalist style to his "realist" style.
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