Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
Woman Leaving Her Bath, 1886-88
Pastel over monotype
Private Collection,
courtesy of Takako
Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Edgar Degas is nearly as well known for
painting women wearing not much more
than a towel as he is for painting them wearing tutus and ballet slippers. That makes it
even more surprising that no exhibit until now
has ever focused solely on his languorous
lady bathers and other nudes.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has
gathered more than 160 of the French
impressionist master’s nude-themed paint-
ings, drawings, etchings and other works
ranging over half a century. They show
Degas’ evolution through four stages: life
studies; classic epics (including the 1865
Scene of War in the Middle Ages, where
the nakedness of vulnerable women on the
ground contrasts with the clothing of brutal
soldiers looming above them on horseback);
sometimes-explicit brothel scenes; and
finally, the everyday, unposed paintings for
which he is best known, showing women in
the tub or making their toilettes.
