--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Degas was obsessed by the art of…" description: "\"Degas was obsessed by the art of classical ballet, because to him it said something about the human condition. He was not a balletomane looking for an ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a02/john-berger-1590_about_degas-was-obsessed-by-the-art-of-classic_1907896.png" --- # Degas was obsessed by the art of classical ballet, because… ![“Degas was obsessed by the art of classical ballet, because to him it said something about the human condition. He was not a balletomane looking for an alternative world to escape into. Dance offered him a display in which he could find, after much searching, certain human secrets.” quote by John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a02/john-berger-1590_about_degas-was-obsessed-by-the-art-of-classic_1907896.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a02/john-berger-1590_about_degas-was-obsessed-by-the-art-of-classic_1907896.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a02/john-berger-1590_about_degas-was-obsessed-by-the-art-of-classic_1907896.png) > “Degas was obsessed by the art of classical ballet, because to him it said something about the human condition. He was not a balletomane looking for an alternative world to escape into. Dance offered him a display in which he could find, after much searching, certain human secrets.” [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Degas used ballet as a lens to explore deeper human truths, not merely as entertainment. **In simple terms:** Ballet revealed human secrets for Degas. Key Takeaway Look beyond surface art for meaning. Themes art human condition interpretature Mood thoughtful analytical Type interpretive philosophical When to use this quote - museum visits - art criticism - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism visual analysis Questions to Reflect On - What human truths does your favorite art reveal? - How does context change interpretation? A Different Perspective Art may be misread as escapism without context. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [About](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/about/) [After](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/after/) [Alternative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alternative/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Ballet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballet/) [Ballet Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ballet-said-2855108/) [Balletomane Looking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/balletomane-looking-2855107/) [Because](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/because/) [Certain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain/) [Classical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/classical/) [Condition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/condition/) [Could](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/could/) [Dance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance/) [Degas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/degas/) [Degas Obsessed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/degas-obsessed-2855106/) [Display](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/display/) [Escape](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/escape/) [Find](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/find/) [He](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/he/) [Him](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/him/) [Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human/) [Human condition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-condition/) [Looking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looking/) [Much](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/much/) [Obsessed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obsessed/) [Offered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/offered/) [Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said/) [Searching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/searching/) [Secrets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secrets/) [Something](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/something/) [Which](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/which/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [In Degas's compositions with several dancers, their steps, postures and gestures often resemble the almost geometric, formal letters of an alphabet, whereas their bodies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/in-degas-s-compositions-with-several-dancers-their-steps-postures-and/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The human quality Degas most admired was endurance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-human-quality-degas-most-admired-was-endurance/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The very fact that we find it hard to conceive of an alternative to limitless economic growth is an indication of our spiritual condition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-hauerwas/the-very-fact-that-we-find-it-hard-to-conceive-of-an-alternative-to/) [Stanley Hauerwas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-hauerwas/) > [A nude by Degas is chaste. But his women wash in tubs!...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-gauguin/a-nude-by-degas-is-chaste-but-his-women-wash-in-tubs/) [Paul Gauguin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-gauguin/) > [What Degas called 'a way of seeing' must consequently bear a wide enough interpretation to include way of being, power, knowledge, and will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/what-degas-called-a-way-of-seeing-must-consequently-bear-a-wide/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“But to me, the argument is just semantics, an exercise in mental masturbation. True, Degas painted neither plein air nor spontaneously, but he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-a-shapiro/but-to-me-the-argument-is-just-semantics-an-exercise-in-mental/) [Barbara A. Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-a-shapiro/) > [When a figure painter executes a landscape he treats it as if it were a face; Degas' landscapes are unparalleled because they are visionary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec/when-a-figure-painter-executes-a-landscape-he-treats-it-as-if-it-were/) [Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec/) > [The paintings that laughed at him merrily from the walls were like nothing he had ever seen or dreamed of. Gone were the flat,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-stone/the-paintings-that-laughed-at-him-merrily-from-the-walls-were-like/) [Irving Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-stone/) > [Just as a classical dancer repeats the same movements again and again, in order to achieve a greater perfection of line and balance, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/just-as-a-classical-dancer-repeats-the-same-movements-again-and-again/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Degas is a master of creating compositions that don't look composed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-liebermann/degas-is-a-master-of-creating-compositions-that-don-t-look-composed/) [Max Liebermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-liebermann/) > [Only the bad artists of the nineteenth century were frightened by the invention of photography; the good ones all welcomed it and used it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/only-the-bad-artists-of-the-nineteenth-century-were-frightened-by-the/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [I don't belong to any school. I work in my corner. I admire Degas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec/i-don-t-belong-to-any-school-i-work-in-my-corner-i-admire-degas/) [Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec/) > [I really became convinced I wanted to tell the story of the real-life model for the Degas sculpture 'Little Dancer Aged 14,' which was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-marie-buchanan/i-really-became-convinced-i-wanted-to-tell-the-story-of-the-real-life/) [Cathy Marie Buchanan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-marie-buchanan/) > [“I spit upon the dancers painted by Degas. I spit upon their short bodies, their stiff stays, their toes whereupon they spin like peg-tops,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-b-yeats/i-spit-upon-the-dancers-painted-by-degas-i-spit-upon-their-short/) [W.B. Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-b-yeats/) > [“Degas is one of the very few painters who have given the floor its true importance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/degas-is-one-of-the-very-few-painters-who-have-given-the-floor-its/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) ## More by John Berger > [When we read a story, we inhabit it. The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/when-we-read-a-story-we-inhabit-it-the-covers-of-the-book-are-like-a/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from-observation-nor-from-the-soul/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Oil painting did to appearances what capital did to social relations. It reduced everything to the equality of objects. Everything became exchangeable because everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/oil-painting-did-to-appearances-what-capital-did-to-social-relations/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Landscapes can be deceptive. Sometimes a landscape seems to be less a setting for the life of its inhabitants than a curtain behind which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/landscapes-can-be-deceptive-sometimes-a-landscape-seems-to-be-less-a/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We live in a dominant culture of ceaseless Departure and Progress that has so far lasted two or three centuries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-live-in-a-dominant-culture-of-ceaseless-departure-and-progress/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [My heart born naked was swaddled in lullabies. Later alone it wore poems for clothes. Like a shirt I carried on my back the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/my-heart-born-naked-was-swaddled-in-lullabies-later-alone-it-wore/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [ There's the artist's intimacy and truthfulness to himself, but an equal intimacy to the Other \[the one drawn\]. Picasso drawings are like that... the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/there-s-the-artist-s-intimacy-and-truthfulness-to-himself-but-an/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Traditional Chinese art looked at the Earth from a Confucian mountain top; Japanese art looked closely around screens; Italian Renaissance art surveyed conquered nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/traditional-chinese-art-looked-at-the-earth-from-a-confucian-mountain/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Never again shall a single story be told as though it were the only one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/never-again-shall-a-single-story-be-told-as-though-it-were-the-only/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [In drawing after drawing, pastel after pastel, painting after painting, the contours of Degas's dancing figures become, at a certain point, darkly insistent, tangled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/in-drawing-after-drawing-pastel-after-pastel-painting-after-painting/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-never-look-at-just-one-thing-we-are-always-looking-at-the-relation/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We can become anything. 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We actually perceive it in a different way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/today-we-see-the-art-of-the-past-as-nobody-saw-it-before-we-actually/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) [Explore all 214 John Berger quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) ## More About quotes > [If you ask an introvert a question, wait until she thinks about it. Introverts think before speaking, not through speaking. 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