Woman in the Bath Drying her Arm

In this late drawing, Degas portrays one of his most iconic subjects, a woman bathing. Leaving much of the paper blank, the artist isolates the figure to underscore the intimacy of the scene. However, with the sharp recession of the bathtub and slight perspective from above, Degas also indicates that the bather is not alone. Further, by depicting her from behind, Degas offers the possibility that the woman does not know she is being watched. With this choice, both the artist's and our status as observers is called into question: are we viewers or voyeurs?