Christa Giles

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or bodies depicted. These traits were adopted from
Japanese art and utilized with originality and a sense of
irony by Degas. But perhaps Degas’ own words best
convey the difference between the Impressionists (whom
Huysmans viewed with reservations) and his own work.
Moore describes a conversation that took place at the
Cirque Fernando at which Degas, comparing his work with
the Impressionists, said to an Impressionist painter, ˝A
vous il faut la vie naturelle, à moi la vie factice.˝ 546 It was
precisely ˝la vie naturelle,˝ or what Wilde called the
˝tedious realism of those who merely paint what they
see,˝ 547 which Wilde also objected to in the Impressionists.
Huysmans specifically articulates his approval of the level
of artifice in Degas’ paintings.
The subjects which Degas chose for his work were
also congenial to Huysmans’ idea of modernity. The
depiction of the circus and the brothel in particular
efficaciously allowed for the implicit juxtaposition of the
artificial and the animal, the cynical mask and an
unpalatable reality. The melancholy which Huysmans
sought in landscape painting he found in Degas’ paintings
coupled with a sense of disillusionment as well as
psychological insight. For example, he claimed that Degas
noted the movements of the dancer ˝avec une perspicacité