'I would like to famous and unknown', said Edgar Degas.

His sublime paintings of ballet dancers, striking views of horseraces and intimate scenes of women bathing made him famous. Yet he remains unknown, for those celebrated pictures have obscured both the rest of his work and his private life.

The full story of Degas' sixty-year career - as a passionate supporter of the avant-garde, a champion of Impressionism, an insatiable experimenter - can be found in this lavishly-illustrated pocket-sized book.