Question 1

True or false: He created over 1,500 paintings and drawings of ballet dancers, but few were actually finished on stage.

Accepted Answer

True. Most of Degas’s dancer works were studio studies or backstage scenes, not live performances—he preferred capturing rehearsal and fatigue.

Question 2

True or false: Degas owned a pet monkey named ‘Toto’ that he dressed in little suits and painted regularly.

Accepted Answer

False. While Degas painted many animals, there is no record of a pet monkey; this myth likely confuses him with other artists like Frida Kahlo.

Question 3

True or false: He painted his famous ‘The Absinthe Drinker’ while drunk himself, as a form of self-portrait.

Accepted Answer

False. The painting features a model and a friend, not Degas himself; he was a moderate drinker and rarely painted self-portraits.

Question 4

True or false: Degas never married, and his only documented love affair was with the American painter Mary Cassatt.

Accepted Answer

False. Degas and Cassatt were close friends and professional allies, but no romantic relationship existed; both remained unmarried by choice.

Question 5

True or false: Edgar Degas was a leading Impressionist who also rejected the label and called himself a realist.

Accepted Answer

True. Degas participated in seven of eight Impressionist exhibitions but preferred the term 'realist' and disdained plein air painting.

Question 6

True or false: In his later years, Degas became a sculptor, producing only a single bronze cast of his famous ‘Little Dancer’ during his lifetime.

Accepted Answer

True. He exhibited only one sculpture publicly—the wax ‘Little Dancer of Fourteen Years’—and bronze casts were made after his death.

Question 7

True or false: Degas was blind in one eye for most of his life, which influenced his off-center compositions.

Accepted Answer

False. Degas had severe vision problems later in life but was not blind in one eye early on; his unique framing came from photography and Japanese prints.

Question 8

True or false: Degas was an avid photographer and used his own photos as reference for many of his paintings.

Accepted Answer

True. Starting in the 1890s, Degas took hundreds of photographs, often using them to capture unusual angles and poses for his works.

Edgar Degas Trivia Questions