Andy Warhol vs Edgar Degas
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
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The record, side by side
| Andy Warhol | Edgar Degas | |
| Field | Art | Art |
| Sub-field | Painting | Painting |
| Born | 1928 | 1834 |
| Died | 1987 | 1917 |
| Country of birth | United States | France |
| Star sign | Leo | Cancer |
Who they are
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola was born on August 6, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third child of Lemko immigrants from what is now Slovakia. His father worked in coal mines and construction; his mother, Julia, made tin flowers and sold tin cans decorated with folk motifs door to door. The family was Byzantine Catholic, poor, and tight-knit. Warhol would never entirely leave Pittsburgh — or rather, Pittsburgh never entirely left him. His lifelong obsession with the iconography of American consumer culture — the Campbell's soup can, the Coca-Cola bottle, the Brillo box — can be read as…
Full biography of Andy Warhol →
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas was obsessed with movement — the way a dancer's tutu catches the stage light mid-pirouette, the bunched muscle of a racehorse at the starting gate, the tired slump of a laundress pressing a shirt at the end of a long day. He trained his eye like a scientist and his hand like a master draughtsman, then used both to capture modern Paris in moments of arrested motion that feel simultaneously spontaneous and eternally composed. He called himself a Realist. Others called him an Impressionist. He rejected the label but showed in seven of…
Full biography of Edgar Degas →
What they share
- Both are held here under Art.
- Same sub-field: Painting.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: United States and France.
- 94 years separate their births (1928 and 1834).
- Their lifetimes never overlapped.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Andy Warhol or Edgar Degas?
- Edgar Degas. Andy Warhol was born in 1928, Edgar Degas in 1834.
- What field is each of them in?
- Andy Warhol is filed under Art (Painting). Edgar Degas is filed under Art (Painting).
- Were they contemporaries?
- No - their lifetimes do not overlap.