Essay by Joseph Scurto, Class of 2008

Le Bain (The Bath), or Woman Bathing in a Shallow Tub, was originally completed in 1886 by Edgar Degas. The image was later made into a lithograph through collaboration with Georges William Thornley in 1888. This bather was part of a collection of two hundred images of bathing woman completed by Degas in the 1880s. Most of the bathers began as multiple views in charcoal sketches, ending as pastels on heavily woven paper.

Le Bain was part of a series of seven genre scenes of the same woman bathing in a boudoir. These seven portraits fit in a sequence of images as though a photographer rotated around her, shooting consecutive snapshots from various angles. This composition provides evidence of Degas's geometric drafting skills. He commonly used diagonal lines to show body structure and zigzag lines to add presence to items in his backgrounds. In this print, diagonal lines are the basis for the principal axis of the figure, which includes the spine, legs and especially the arms. The action of the bather is geometric in its portrayal of the balancing act necessary for her position, as she uses the sponge in her hand and is framed by the circular tub. Her hand and feet are the most detailed elements of the piece.

The main significance of these depictions stems from the overall statement that Degas was making with such new portrayals of the female nude. When first publicly displayed, his bathers received negative reactions. Many found them distasteful, and some determined they were completely revolting. It was obvious now that Degas constructed an original approach to the female nude. He had left the academic standard of women portrayed as goddesses and mothers.

Degas could have designed this woman in one of two ways. He may have planned her to be a simple middle class woman. Degas' bather reveals an intimate look into a candid moment of a faceless woman. With this direction, many today interpret the scene in a broader modernist sense, as a bourgeois woman taking a bath, a fresh approach to depicting a real nude, in line with the larger subject of Impressionism: everyday people participating in common activities. On the other side of the spectrum, however, many interpret her as a prostitute bathing in a brothel, between clients, in order to ward off venereal disease.