Edgar Degas

Bather Stepping into a Tub, ca. 1890. Edgar Degas. Pastel and charcoal on blue laid paper, mounted at perimeter on backing board. H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929.
Degas’s interest in the motif of a nude entering the water apparently dates to his student days, when he copied the figure of a man scrambling over a riverbank from an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi after Michelangelo. This is one of seven pastels in which Degas ventured a modern version of the subject. The woman, her arms and legs splayed precariously against a zinc bathtub, powerfully manifests the combination of physical awkwardness and sensuality that characterizes the artist’s depictions of bathers.