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Henri Degas and His Niece Lucie Degas

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Compare the matching tilt of the two heads with the strong verticals of the door and chair that divide the room.

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Henri was Degas’s uncle and guardian of the artist’s orphaned cousin Lucie. Degas probably painted them during a stay in Naples in 1875. Both wear mourning black. The thin paint and unresolved passages reveal an unfinished portrait, so its quiet arrangement should not be mistaken for a fully settled composition.

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Oil on canvas · 99.8 × 119.9 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Impressionism

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Details and source

Museum title
Henri Degas and His Niece Lucie Degas (The Artist's Uncle and Cousin)
Artist
Edgar Degas
Date
1875–76
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
99.8 × 119.9 cm (39 1/4 × 47 3/16 in.); Framed: 118.2 × 137.8 × 8.9 cm (46 1/2 × 54 1/4 × 3 1/2 in.)
Credit line
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
Art Institute of Chicago

Artist’s life 1834–1917

Impressionism c. 1860–1900

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

Henri Degas and His Niece Lucie Degas · Edgar Degas, 1875–76
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Henri Degas and His Niece Lucie Degas, Edgar Degas

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