NARRATOR:
The theme of women bathing has been popular with artists since the Renaissance. But instead of showing bathers as part of a Biblical legend or a scene from Classical antiquity, Edgar Degas took a modern approach to his nude figures.
This woman appears to be in some private space, surrounded by colorful drapery. Degas has no interest in telling her story, or even in presenting a complete picture of the female form. Instead, he concentrates on luminous color and rich texture—focusing our attention on a simple everyday gesture and how the body moves when performing it.
Soft strokes of rose, peach, brown and cream-colored pastel reveal the curves and hollows of the muscles beneath the woman’s skin as she leans forward, stretching to dry the back of her neck. This particular pose fascinated Degas—he explored it in many drawings. Here, he placed tracing paper on a previous study, exactly copying the figure, then mounting the paper on cardboard. He also experimented with the pose in wax sculptures, some of which were cast in bronze after his death. You’ll find several of the bronzes on display in this gallery.
After the Bath
c. 1890-1893 (dated in error by another hand: 1885)
Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
On View
Of Degas’s various recurrent subjects, the one most magically suited to the pastel medium may have been the female nude. By the early 1890s, the artist had all but abandoned oil paints for his nudes, relying instead on powdery, luminous pastels to convey the texture of bare skin. In works like this one, the more persuasively the physical properties of the medium mimic those of the sensuous subject, the more aware we become of the medium itself. Extreme realism here converges with abstraction, a new emphasis on the process of picture-making in the glowing, touched-all-over surface. The signature at lower left is original, but the incorrect date (“85”) is a later addition.
Details
- Artist Name: Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
- Title: After the Bath
- Date: c. 1890-1893 (dated in error by another hand: 1885)
- Medium: Pastel on paper mounted on cardboard
- Dimensions: 26 x 20 3/4 in. (66 x 52.7 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1975.02.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
The artist, sold 9 March 1902 for f. 6,000 to;
[Durand-Ruel, stock no. 6950, Paris, transferred 3 December 1912 to];
[Durand-Ruel, New York, stock no. 3585, sold 2 January 1913 for $9,000 to];
Miss Lillie P. Bliss, New York, bequeathed 1931 to;
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, sold May 1942 to;
Mrs. Charles Suydam Cutting, New York and New Jersey.
[Wildenstein & Co., New York].
Benjamin E. Bensinger, Chicago (sale, London, Christie's, 15 April 1975, lot 30, to);
[Somerville & Simpson, London, on behalf of];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
[Durand-Ruel, stock no. 6950, Paris, transferred 3 December 1912 to];
[Durand-Ruel, New York, stock no. 3585, sold 2 January 1913 for $9,000 to];
Miss Lillie P. Bliss, New York, bequeathed 1931 to;
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, sold May 1942 to;
Mrs. Charles Suydam Cutting, New York and New Jersey.
[Wildenstein & Co., New York].
Benjamin E. Bensinger, Chicago (sale, London, Christie's, 15 April 1975, lot 30, to);
[Somerville & Simpson, London, on behalf of];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings
- New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1921-05-03 to 1921-09-15
Degas: Beyond Impressionism
- The National Gallery, London, 1996-05-22 to 1996-08-26
- Art Institute of Chicago, 1996-09-28 to 1997-01-05
[on loan]
- Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, 1975-05-02 to 1975-08-11
One Hundred Years of Impressionism: A Tribute to Durand-Ruel
- Wildenstein & Co. (New York, N.Y.), 1970-04-02 to 1970-05-09
1913 Armory Show: 50th Anniversary Exhibition, 1963
- Utica, New York, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1963-02-17 to 1963-03-31
- New York, Armory of the 69th Regiment, 1963-04-06 to 1963-04-28
From the Collection of Mrs. C. Suydam Cutting: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints
- Newark, Newark Museum, 1954-02-08 to 1954-04-25
Collector's Choice: Masterpieces of French Art from New York Private Collections
- New York, Paul Rosenberg and Co., 1953-03-17 to 1953-04-18
Owned in New Jersey
- Newark, Newark Museum, 1946-10 to 1946-12
The Lilly P. Bliss Collection
- Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY), 1934 to
Modern Masters from the Collection of Miss Lizzie P. Bliss
- Indianapolis, John Herron Art Institute, 1932-01 to
The Collection of Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, Vice President of the Museum
- Addison Gallery of American Art, 1931-10-17 to 1931-12-17
Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the late Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, Vice-President of the Museum
- Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY), 1931-05-17 to 1931-09-27
International Exhibition of Modern Art
- New York, Armory of the 69th Regiment, 1913-02-17 to 1913-03-15
"Masterpieces Recalled": A Loan Exhibition of the 19th and 20th Century French Paintings For the Benefit of the League for Emotionally Disturbed Children, Inc.
- New York, Paul Rosenberg & Co., 1957-02-06 to 1957-03-02
Olympia's Progeny...For the Benefit of the Association for the Mentally Ill Children in Manhattan, Inc.
- Wildenstein & Co. (New York, N.Y.), 1965-10-28 to 1965-11-27
Redesigned Degas Galleries
- Norton Simon Museum, 1995-05-04 to 1997-06-01
Degas
- Paris, Musee de l'Orangerie, de Tuileries, 1937-03 to 1937-04
Taking Shape: Degas as Sculptor
- Norton Simon Museum, 2017-11-09 to 2018-04-09
- Bouret, J., Degas, p. 196
- Rewald, John, Edgar Degas, no. 53
- Schacherl, Lillian, Edgar Degas: Dancers and Nudes, pp. 107, 125
- Armstrong, Carol, Odd Man Out: Readings of the Work and Reputation of Edgar Degas, fig. 103 p. 197
- Apollo, fig. 9 p. 10
- Hudson, Suzanne, and Nancy Noonan-Morrissey, How to Write About Art, fig. 6-2 p. 119
- Grappe, Georges, Edgar Degas, p. 52
- Caradente, G., Degas, pl. LVI p. 15
- Katzander, H., International Art Market, p. 146-147
- Russoli, Franco; and Fiorella Minervino, L'opera completa di Degas, no. 912 p. 127
- La Farge, H. A., Art News, p. 66
- Fosca, F., Degas, p. 86
- Lassaigne, Jacques, Edgar Degas, p. 31
- Morsell, M., Art News, pp. 4, 15
- Die Kunst für Alle, p. 382
- The Studio, p. 322
- Rebatet, Marguerite, Degas, pl. 126
- Mauclair, Camille, Edgar Degas,
- Dumont, Henri, Degas, p. 28
- Lemoisne, Paul-André, Degas et son oeuvre, no. 815 pp. 464-465
- Rich, Daniel C., Edgar Degas, pp. 104, 105
- Norman, Geraldine, Times, 1891,
- Wilenski, R. H., Modern French Painters, 1940, p. 334
- Painting and Sculpture in the Museum of Modern Art, 1942, no. 136 p. 35
- Steadman, David W., The Connoisseur, 1976, p. 222
- Boggs, Jean Sutherland, Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin, 1981, p. 27
- Brettel, Richard; and Suzanne McCullagh, Degas in the Art Institute of Chicago, 1984, fig. 89-1 p. 185
- Lipton, Eunice, Looking Into Degas: Uneasy Images of Women and Modern Life, 1986, no. 121 pp. 180-181
- Lipton, Eunice, Arts Magazine, 1987, fig. 13 pp. 96-97
- Rouart, Denis, Degas: In Search of His Technique, 1988, p. 60
- Thomson, Richard, Degas: The Nudes, 1988, p. 183, 184
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 151
- Kendall, Richard, Degas: Beyond Impressionism, 1996, no. 48 pp. 156, 231, 233
- Westheimer, Dr. Ruth ; Charles Sullivan, The Lover's Companion, 2002, pp. 14, 15
- Campbell, Sara et al., Degas in the Norton Simon Museum, 2009, Fig. 27 pp. 45, 200
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1131 p. 375
- Orcutt/Kushner, The Armory Show at 100: The New Art Spirit, 2013,
- Carmen Fernández Jacob, La Patalogía Ocular en la Pintura a Través de la Clínica Oftalmológica, 2017, Fig. 26, Fig. 28 pp. 116-117
- Michel Schulman, Degas Catalogue Raisonné Online, 2021, MS-1035
Image reproduction permission may be granted for scholarly or arts related commercial use. All image requests, regardless of their intended purpose, should be submitted via the reproduction request form.
Images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. Additional permission may be required.
Please allow up to four weeks for your request to be reviewed. Approved requests for the reproduction of an image will receive a contract detailing all fees and conditions of use of the image. Upon receipt of both the signed contract and full payment, the Office of Rights and Reproductions will provide the image. A complimentary copy of the published material must be provided to the Norton Simon Museum.