Degas-More than ballet dancers.

 Seventeen of us assembled at NGV International for the Degas exhibition. We enjoyed a comprehensive talk on Degas’ family life, travels,contemporaries and the period of French society in which he painted.  This alerted us to facets of the exhibition to watch out for as we strolled around the extensive array of paintings, drawings, printmaking, sculpture and photography.   His works extended over some 60 years depicting at first family and friends’ portraits and then moving into periods of concentration on various forms of working life – horse racing, night life, laundry workers and his well-known paintings of ballerinas.   Many of his paintings of women, and daily life shocked French society at that time.  Members enjoyed sharing their insights and comments on the various exhibits and noted there was so much to see.