A cotton office in New Orleans

If Degas could only follow his own taste, he would use only black and white in his paintings. He was a painter, much more interested in line than color. And the interesting thing is that he would have had enough of these colors to create truly brilliant paintings. An example of this is "Cotton Exchange."the artist painted after his trip to New Orleans to visit his relatives.

The entire family of the artist bore the surname de Ga, and only Edgar abandoned aristocratic prejudice and changed his last name. Degas's father was a banker, his brothers Rene and Achille were engaged in importing wine to America, his uncle on his mother's side Michel Musson inherited the family business in America and sold cotton. And Edgar wasn't just constantly in touch with these people, he loved them and was proud of their successes. They became the heroes of a group portrait, which Degas painted immediately after his arrival from America.

It is hard to imagine whom else the bohemian artists of the late nineteenth century could so devoutly dislike and oppose as bourgeois, merchants, and financiers. Business subjects almost never appeared in their paintings. And in this Degas managed to become a rebel, and quite successful.

In 1876, The Cotton Exchange is shown to the French public for the first time at the second Impressionist exhibition. And already in 1878 it becomes the first painting that Degas buys from the museum.

This painting has a peaceful and quiet academic life - it is still in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Pau, France. Who, after all, would think of stealing The Cotton Exchange? No passion, no grace, no tragedy, no sadness. Pure business, pure art.