The outstanding artist Edgar Degas lived and worked at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries - in the difficult times of radical political and social changes, the period of the revival of realism and the emergence of impressionism. Degas went his creative way from historical subjects in line with classicism to the most realistic scenes from everyday life in Paris - ballerinas from Opera Garnier, horse races, cafes and cafeshantans, a variety of male and female portraits of ordinary people.