Edgar Degas - A Carriage at the Races 1872

A Carriage at the Races 1872
A Carriage at the Races
1872 36x55cm oil/canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA

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From Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:
This painting was one of the first works that Degas sold (in 1872) to Paul Durand-Ruel, the dealer who became the early champion of the Impressionists. It is not only a landscape but also a scene from everyday life and - most of all - a family portrait. The driver of the carriage is Degas’s friend Paul Valpinçon, who is shown with his wife, a wet nurse, and in the nurse’s lap, the couple’s son, Henri.
With its subtly ironic title - the races play a minor role in the composition - the painting was among the artist’s contributions to the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.