Edgar Degas

About Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was a pivotal French painter and sculptor, closely associated with the Impressionist movement despite his preference for being called a Realist. His enduring historical importance, reflected in his HPI Rank of #786, stems from his revolutionary approach to capturing modern life, particularly his pioneering use of composition and his famous, intimate depictions of ballet dancers, which remain iconic representations of 19th-century Parisian culture.

In the context of modern digital attention, Degas exhibits a near-perfect alignment with his historical standing. He garnered approximately 327K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025, resulting in an Attention Gap of approximately 1x, suggesting his cultural footprint online is proportional to his historical rank. This stands in contrast to figures like Pope Pius VIII (#547), who is historically more significant but receives substantially less digital attention.

However, the recent trend indicates a minor cooling of public interest: his 2025 view count declined by 14.2% year-over-year, and his short-term momentum between Q1 and Q3 dipped by 6%, suggesting a gradual slippage from the forefront of current online discourse.