How did the Dreyfus affair affect Edgar Degas’s friendships?

The Dreyfus affair had a significant impact on the personal life of Edgar Degas. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the controversy—which centered on the treason conviction of French army officer Alfred Dreyfus—deeply divided French society into opposing camps.

Degas held reactionary views and expressed a violently anti-Semitic response to the affair. These stances caused him to become increasingly isolated, as his vocal position alienated many of his friends and narrowed his social world at the turn of the 20th century.1