The Art Institute of Chicago is fortunate to possess a rich and varied collection of works in all media by Edgar Degas (1834-1917), the most versatile and incisive of the French Impressionists. Ranging from the intimate domestic portraits of Degas's early career to the vigorous studies of dancers and bathers of his late years, the 35 works featured in this volume, along with a number of details, provide insight into the artist's astonishing achievements as a draftsman, printmaker, painter, and sculptor.

An essay on Degas's life and work by noted scholar Jean Sutherland Boggs traces the patterns of thematic innovation and technical experimentation that resulted in a quintessentially modern, and therefore continually compelling, body of work.