Leaving the Bath

Leaving the Bath is a significant print created by Edgar Degas between 1879 and 1880, documenting the artist’s dedicated exploration of the graphic arts. This challenging work utilizes drypoint and aquatint techniques meticulously executed on laid paper. The specific iteration held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art is noted as the twelfth known state out of at least twenty-two progressive stages, highlighting Degas’s rigorous process of revision and refinement inherent in graphic arts production during this period.

Degas frequently turned his attention to unposed, intimate moments, capturing women performing their daily toilette and domestic routines. This piece belongs to a crucial series of studies focusing on female nudes captured in various states of bathing or drying. Unlike classical or mythological bathers, Degas presents an observational viewpoint, emphasizing the figure caught in a momentary transition, perhaps stepping out of a tub or preparing to dry herself. The heavy, velvety lines characteristic of drypoint convey texture and shadow, emphasizing the physicality of the woman’s form and the diffused light of the interior space.

The sophisticated mastery required for these etched prints demonstrates Degas’s commitment to technical experimentation alongside his renowned oil paintings and pastels. As a key example of late 19th-century French printmaking, this rare impression resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. While the original physical print is a delicate artifact, digital images of this work are often made available through public domain initiatives, ensuring broad access to Degas’s influential observational studies of the human form.