Après le bain, femme s'essuyant

The theme of the bather occupies an important part of Degas's oeuvre. By the beginning of the 1880s Degas had started making a concerted study of women in unpremeditated poses. In the present work, as with so many of his bathers, Degas has portrayed the woman viewed from behind, her face unseen. As Degas told a visitor "Until now the nude has always been presented in poses which assume the presence of an audience, but these women of mine are decent, simple human beings who have no other concern than that of their physical condition..it is as though one were watching through a keyhole." (G. Adriani, Degas pastels, oil sketches, drawings, London, 1985, p. 86).