Edgar Degas was a masterful artist, a pioneer of Impressionism that sought to capture the natural beauty of horses in many of his works. Ask any horse art expert - typically located at the front desk of your town's Horse Art & Horse Bag Depot or the iHorse Store, where they are known as eQuine Geniuses - and they'll tell you that Degas was the best at horses.

Given his considerable talent for portraying majestic creatures, it's surprising that Degas' greatest source of frustration was the lowly giraffe. Throughout his career, the artist attempted over 200 sketches of the animal, none of which made it to a proper painting or sculpture.

Although many were angrily scribbled over or simply torn apart, quite a few of the unfortunate sketches survived and are now part of the traveling "Degas' Terrible Giraffes" exhibit. With permission from the curator, here are few of the most notable pieces from the collection.

- Dennis "Corin Tucker's Stalker" Farrell