but lautrec's great early influence was the work of edgar degas. s a wonderful anecdote about how, after dinner one evening, he took some friends for what he called a dessert and took them to a friend's apartment where he showed them a painting by degas. what degas stood for was a kind of sophisticated naturalism in painting. degas, in the 1870s, had used cut-off figures, steep angled perspectives, and other devices to give a dramatic sense of immediacy in a way of representing the modern world. lautrec borrowed those kinds of devices for his work. (narrator) the lessons degas offered in a work like in a café-- off-center compositions and cropped figures observed in the real world-- would emerge in lautrec's art. but he reached beyond the frontiers of naturalism and moved into more expressive territory. as he grew into his own style, you see a greater difference between lautrec and degas. and one way you see that especially is that toulouse-lautrec always seems to have a greater emotional intimacy, i'd say, with his models. there's always more of an

but lautrec's great early influence was the work of edgar degas. s a wonderful anecdote about how, after dinner one evening, he took some friends for what he called a dessert and took them to a friend's apartment where he showed them a painting by degas. what degas stood for was a kind of sophisticated naturalism in painting. degas, in the 1870s, had used cut-off figures, steep angled perspectives, and other devices to give a dramatic sense of immediacy in a way of representing the modern world. lautrec borrowed those kinds of devices for his work. (narrator) the lessons degas offered in a work like in a café-- off-center compositions and cropped figures observed in the real world-- would emerge in lautrec's art. but he reached beyond the frontiers of naturalism and moved into more expressive territory. as he grew into his own style, you see a greater difference between lautrec and degas. and one way you see that especially is that toulouse-lautrec always seems to have a greater emotional intimacy, i'd say, with his models. there's always more of an

next, we will be taking a look at edgar degas, considered one of the greatest ever portrait painters. >> the first-ever exhibition devoted to his nudes has opened in paris -- in paris. the nude figure was considered central to his work until the end of his life. he was one of the founding fathers of the impressionist movement. the exhibition runs until july. >> next, we take a look at the challenges facing italy as the country is in recession. and keep your clothes on. stay with us. >> you decide what you want to watch. all the images, all the programs, the whole package. dw on the internet. the media center on dw.de. >> where do you prefer to use dw? let us know where you are taking us. perhaps your snapshot will win. please send pictures to mydw@dw.de. we are giving away 3 ipads. for more information, go to dw.de/mydw. >> welcome back. the german chancellor has been in rome where she's been holding talks with mario monti. >> mario monti is charged with getting the economy back up and running while still trying to reform the country's budget, and it is no small task, but so far, he h

the national gallery of art has the greatest collection of critical life sculptures by an edgar degasg his most famous, "a little dancer: age 14." come down and see her washington. -- i am franklin kelly. >> we have dense fog this morning that creis especially notable down along the mason- dixon line, panhandle of west virginia until 8:00 a.m.. that means visibility down to a quarter mile or less at times. 54 degrees in the district and quantico. 41 in cumberland and hagerstown 37 in martinsburg. this afternoon, mid 60's locally. upper 50's in western maryland and northern maryland. culpeper, fredericksburg spotsylvania, you could reach 70 degrees this afternoon. a little gusty this afternoon. areas of rain tomorrow night into saturday. >> i was telling you that university boulevard was closed, the ramp that would take you onto the outer loop because of the crash. that's gone. yesterday we told you about wilkinsburg, but everything is open on 450 at alternate route 1. you can drive through that area. we have new issues to report. minor crash of the outer loop near connecticut avenue q