Artistic style thumb|The Dance Class (La Classe de Danse), 1873–1876, oil on canvas Degas is often identified as an Impressionist, an understandable but insufficient description. Impressionism originated in the 1860s and 1870s and grew, in part, from the realism of painters such as Courbet and Corot. The Impressionists painted the realities of the world around them using bright, "dazzling" colors, concentrating primarily on the effects of light, and hoping to infuse their scenes with immediacy. They wanted to express their visual experience in that exact moment.Clay 1973, p. 28.
artistic style thumb|the dance class (la classe de danse) 1873–1876 oil on canvas degas is often identified as an impressionist an understandable but insufficient description impressionism originated in the 1860s and 1870s and grew in part from the realism of painters such as courbet and corot the impressionists painted the realities of the world around them using bright "dazzling" colors concentrating primarily on the effects of light and hoping to infuse their scenes with immediacy they wanted to express their visual experience in that exact momentclay 1973 p 28