Edgar Degas created the painting The Cotton Exchange New Orleans after he returned from New Orleans in 1872. This Impressionism painting was to the description of a contemporary

closest to us was the figure wearing a hat. He seemed to be a little older with slightly closed eyes. Behind him, there was a man raising his head and reading the newspaper. Degas tried to paint like the realistic painters, but he did not believe the realism art. As a result, he emphasized on the vulgar sense of this subject. The Cotton Exchange New Orleans marked the end of Degas’s so-called academic realistic period in the style development. In this period, he became the captive of the form. However, in some sketches of Degas, there were also some themes and artistic conceptions that could prove that he was gradually getting rid of the captive position. These themes and artistic conceptions in the next period of his creation had developed.