A TikTok creator posted a viral video sharing a theory about the famous artist Edgar Degas and how he may have been the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
Kiki Schirr (@schirrgenius) has reached over 13 million views and 1.9 million likes on her video as of publication. In the almost 7-minute long story, Schirr goes in-depth to share the information she found on why she thinks Degas could be Jack the Ripper.
She starts by stating, “We all know that Jack the Ripper killed women, specifically ones that he probably mistook for women of the night.”
According to Britannica, between August and November 1888, Jack the Ripper “murdered at least five women—all prostitutes—in or near the Whitechapel district of London’s East End.” The site adds that “Jack the Ripper was never identified or arrested.”
Schirr says that Degas was in his early 50s at the time of the murders, and she believes he had begun to “really hate women.”
“He’d always been a bit of a misogynist, but he was degrading into a horrible, awful, misanthrope of a person that people did not want to be around,” Schirr states. She says part of her reasoning is because Degas was losing his sight. NIH states that Degas’ vision loss started to become a “serious impediment” in 1870.
Schirr adds that at the time, Degas was “wealthy, well connected, and he lived in Paris, which was just a short train ride away from London where the murders occurred.” She says that a year later, Degas had a friend named James McNeill Whistler, who allegedly spoke out and “chided him for not coming to lunch any longer.” Schirr says Whistler lived in London, and she believes Degas was fond of “taking a train in, having lunch with Whistler and going home.” The New Yorker confirms Whistler’s residence in London at this time.
Next, Schirr says Degas took a two-week trip to Southern France “for two of the murders.” She adds that at the time, Degas sent letters to all of his most famous friends. “Friends he’d never before written to, as far as we know,” she says. The National Gallery of Canada confirms that his letters sent from Paris “span the years 1875 to 1912,” during the same time frame the Paris murders took place.
Schirr suggests Degas may have been setting himself up an alibi since the letters he wrote took place at the same time and location as Jack the Ripper’s murders. “Why did he write to all of these society gossips, these long pages, long letters that are full of witticisms and quips?” she asks.
Another reason Schirr believes her theory is because of how Jack the Ripper committed his murders. “He removed several organs and knew where they were and where to cut in the neck in order to cause death because he had a good grasp on anatomy,” she says. NIH confirms that “the left kidney and the uterus were cut out and taken away” from one of Jack the Ripper’s victims.
“Well, Degas was a classically trained artist. He had attended human dissections, probably multiple times,” Schirr says.
The next reason for Schirr’s theory is that Jack the Ripper’s third and fourth murders were done on the same night. Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were both murdered on Sept. 30, 1888. Schirr believes both murders seemed to be targeted toward Jewish people.
To give context, Schirr mentions “Goulston Street Graffito,” which she says refers to a phrase written in chalk on the wall found above one of Jack the Ripper’s victims. Jacktheripper.org confirms this statement and says that this is “the only real clue that Jack the Ripper left behind.” The site also states that the phrase read, “The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing.”
Schirr believes that since the phrase was written in chalk and Degas was a pastel artist who would “likely carry chalk on him at all times,” this further proves her theory.
To go even deeper, Schirr says that Degas was a “notorious antisemite. He hated Jewish people, and that would become eminently clear only a few years later.” Schirr is referring to what is known as the Dreyfus Affair, where Degas screamed, “You are Jewish … you are Jewish …” to a woman and ordered her to leave the country. Tablet Magazine states that another impressionist painter referred to him as “the ferocious anti-Semite” in a note.
Then Schirr addresses what she calls Degas’ “obsession with painting ballerinas and women who were not watching.” She believes Degas’ ballerina paintings are “not surprising” when compared to Jack the Ripper’s “MO.”
She believes that Jack the Ripper “targeted women and thought very little of them.” Schirr says that when taking a closer look at Degas’ ballerina pieces, the ballerinas “were very commonly prostitutes.”
She says Degas’ painted the ballerinas in such a way that there were “dark shadows in the background,” representing “the men trying to arrange a tryst with them later that night.”
“Look at how many of his paintings are all about that woman’s body and have no face,” she urges viewers. “Look at all of his pastels where the darkest line on the woman is the line cut across her neck.”
Before ending her video, Schirr explains that these are all of the thoughts she “cannot get out” of her head. “Did this artist get away with murder?” she asks. “Did he steal organs?”
“The pretty paintings of ballerinas that hang in little girls’ rooms to this day, were they painted by a murderer?”
@schirrgenius ♬ original sound – Kiki Schirr-Genius
A viewer in the comments section of Schirr’s video said, “I always thought the ballerina paintings were off putting but this now makes sense.”
Another agreed, writing, “I’m stuck however on why anyone would hang up degas ballerinas in their childs’ room … they’re HAUNTING.” Schirr responded, “RIGHT?!?! THANK YOU.”
“My drawing instructor would believe this,” another said. “He HATES Degas, always talks about how his paintings lack life and feel very cold.”
Schirr told the Daily Dot via TikTok direct message, “I don’t believe that we will ever gather enough evidence to prove a suspect is guilty of the Jack the Ripper murders by modern and ethical standards of guilt. But I do believe Degas was a shadowy figure in history whose role was downplayed by those who respected, or owned, his art.”
She adds, “I’m enjoying laying out the series of circumstantial evidence and strange coincidences that tie the Ripper and the impressionist together.”
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