Scenes of women bathing or drying themselves after a bath are a recurrent subject in Degas’s drawings and paintings. He depicted his models as if they were unaware of his presence, often from up close, imbuing these works with an erotic intimacy that verges on voyeurism. With their contorted poses, crouched down in a bathtub or leaning over to towel off their neck, back, or legs, Degas’s bathers serve as a pendant to his depictions of ballerinas, in which he focused on the elegant contours of the performing female body. Both offered opportunities to study the human form in movement and the play of light on the body, here emphasized by areas of dark shading in charcoal.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Bather Drying Herself
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Date:ca. 1883–84
Medium:Charcoal and pastel on off-white laid paper
Dimensions:Sheet: 12 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. (32.1 x 24.8cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1918
Accession Number:19.51.2
Study of Nude Female Figure
Marking: Stamped in red ink, lower right: mark of the Degas estate sale (Lugt 658); stamped in ochre ink, lower center with the mark of the MMA; numbered in red ink, lower right: 18.51.2 [remaining traces of the number that was removed in 1953] Verso: stamped in red ink, upper left with mark of the Degas atelier (Lugt 657); numbered in blue chalk, upper left: 1841 [underlined]; numbered in blue chalk, lower right: Ph 1229 [underlined]
Sold, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Degas Sale II, Dec.11–13, 1918, no. 222
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas in the Metropolitan," February 26–September 4, 1977.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Private Collection of Edgar Degas," October 1, 1997–January 11, 1998.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Small Bronzes," September 5, 2003–March 14, 2004, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Anniversary Highlights," October 8, 2020–January 18, 2021.
Lemoisne 708; Atelier Sale II, no. 222.1
Bryson Burroughs B[ryson]. B[urroughs]. "Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin" Drawings by Degas. 14, May 1919.
Bryson Burroughs "Drawings by Degas." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 14, no. 5, New York, May 1919, pp. 116-117.
James Bolivar Manson The Life and Work of Edgar Degas. London, 1927, p. 48.
Modern Drawings. Monroe Wheeler, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1944, fig. no. pl. 16, p. 90, ill.
Paul-André Lemoisne Degas et son oeuvre. 4 vols + Suppl, Paris, 1946-1949, cat. no. 708, ill.
Paul-André Lemoisne P[aul]. A[ndré]. Lemoisne Degas et son œuvre. Galerie Brame P. Brame et C. M. de Hauke, [reprint 1984]. Paris, [1946–49].
Agnes Mongan, Ira Moskowitz Great Drawings of All Times, vol. 3: French, thirteenth century to 1919. New York, 1962, cat. no. 799, ill.
Washington University Steinberg Hall, Washington University Lithographs by Edgar Degas. [St. Louis?], 1967.
Fiorella Minervino L'opera completa di Degas. Rizzoli, Milan, 1970.
Charles S. Moffett Degas in the Metropolitan. Ex. cat., February 26-September 4, 1977: a complete checklist of works by Degas in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1977, cat. no. 37.
Sue Welsh Reed, Barbara Stern Shapiro Edgar Degas: The Painter as Printmaker. Exh. cat., Boston, Philadelphia, and London. Boston, 1984, fig. no. 43, lxvi, ill.
Ann Dumas, Colta Ives, Susan Alyson Stein, Gary Tinterow The Private Collection of Edgar Degas. Ex. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, fig. no. 375, pp. 271, 285, 28, ill.
Susan Alyson Stein, Edgar Degas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Private Collection of Edgar Degas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
