Description
Edgar Degas’s Leaving the Bath concentrates on a woman stepping forward amid pale fabric. A seated helper appears at the left, while darker surrounding forms make the central figure stand out. The subject is understood through the task at hand rather than through a formal pose. The gathered cloth and the woman’s movement provide the image with a close, irregular rhythm, suggesting the activity of a private interior.
Degas developed the print in 1879–80 through drypoint and aquatint. The combination brings linear marks into contact with broader tonal areas, giving different kinds of emphasis to the figure and its surroundings. This impression belongs to one of the many stages in the plate’s development. The image’s intimacy comes from its concentration: a brief action becomes something worth examining, while the print’s shifting marks preserve the artist’s active search for its form.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Edgar Degas collection.
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