Musée d’Orsay · 1871
Lorenzo Pagans and Auguste de Gas
Edgar Degas
Degas painted his own father listening intently to the Spanish tenor Lorenzo Pagans singing and playing guitar — a quiet, affectionate glimpse into the private musical evenings the Degas family loved to host at home.
Why it matters
Degas painted his own father listening intently to the Spanish tenor Lorenzo Pagans singing and playing guitar — a quiet, affectionate glimpse into the private musical evenings the Degas family loved to host at home.
Look closer
Notice how the light falls on Pagans in the center while Degas's father sits further back in shadow, absorbed in listening — Degas gives the performer center stage even in his own family's living room.
This intimate double portrait is one of the few surviving images Degas made of his own father, who died just a couple of years after it was painted.
Value context
ELYIO places this work in an indicative editorial context of €8–16 million.
The museum work is not for sale. This is ELYIO indicative context—not an appraisal, insurance value or offer.