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The Morning Bath

A work made of pastel on off-white laid paper mounted on board.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of pastel on off-white laid paper mounted on board.

Date:

1887/90

Artist:

Edgar Degas
French, 1834-1917

About this artwork

Later in his career Edgar Degas began using pastel more frequently and created some two hundred pastel drawings of bathers, including this example, which shows a woman stepping into a tub. The soft and crumbly consistency of this medium allowed him to both blend colors and apply more assertive marks that remain distinct. Here, the combination of these effects is evident in his handling of the various fabrics throughout. The woman is shown mid-step, her left leg already inside the tub and her right arm clutching the curtain to maintain her balance. Disheveled bedsheets and rumpled pillow sit between the viewer and the woman, adding a voyeuristic feel to this view of a private morning ritual.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas

Title

The Morning Bath

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1887–1890

Medium

Pastel on off-white laid paper mounted on board

Inscriptions

Signed recto, lower right, in blue pastel: "Degas"

Dimensions

70.6 × 43.3 cm (27 13/16 × 17 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Potter Palmer Collection

Reference Number

1922.422

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/81528/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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