After the Bath — Woman Drying Herself

Her body awkwardly contorted in the act of towelling herself after a bath, the naked woman in this vibrant pastel seems to be caught unawares in a private moment. Such intimate scenes increasingly occupied Edgar Degas in the later decades of his career. As is typical of his pastels, the medium is applied in distinct layers, with little blending, over a charcoal underdrawing. This method, unique to Degas, creates marvellous drifts of colour and unusual linear rhythms, blurring the boundary between drawing and painting.