In the third episode, the author describes the kind of new phenomenon that occurred at the second half of the 19th century- painting of people. But what kind of people? Ordinary people. People in the café bars, in the concert halls, or in theatres.
Degas was the pioneer of this type of painting. He studies ballerinas and painted them all the time. Both on the stage, as well as behind it. He also made a wax statue of the 14-year-old girl, a ballet student, so called ballet rats. It was shockingly realistic, made out of wax, and with the real ballet tutu and hair band, the actual hair band that the 14-year-old model gave to Degas.
It's no secret that the Britain's influence on impressionism is crucial- horse racing and boating.
So, Degas, who was always trying to find a new subject to paint, went to Hippodrome de Longchamp, a horse-racing facility located in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. He was not so interested in parade and strolling, but more into jockeys and their horses. He was fascinated by the movement of the body. At that time there Eadweard Muybridge photographed a horse in different stages of its gallop. Actually, it was in 1878, when Muybridge captured motion. He showed the world what could be guessed but never seen-every stage of a horse's gallop when it sped across a track. He used a multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs. Degas certainly saw Muybridge's photo sequence of a moving horse and was influenced by it.
Degas, who displayed on 7 out of 8 impressionist exhibitions, also painted women bathing. It was done from the weird angles, and it looked like they were watched through the keyhole- by that time it was never done in art. The artist also displayed one groundbreaking painting, as the result to Darwinism, called 'Spartan girls provoking the boys'.
Another French artist worth mentioning, who has the huge influence on history of art and development of modern art movements, was Gustave Caillebotte. He was very rich and really, really talented, but unfortunately died young, age 45. He was also the patron of Impressionists, bought a bunch of their paintings, and in that way kept them safe from destruction.
His painting The Floor Scrapers (1875) was one of his earliest masterpieces, and the first depiction of urban workmen.
Berthe Morisot, was one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism, alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt, all three talented ladies were discussed in this episode.
Also, at the end of this episode, author talks about Paul Gauguin, and how he was a people painter, and talks about Gaugin's family portraits.