Nude Woman Standing, Drying Herself (Femme nue debout, a sa toilette)

Nude Woman Standing, Drying Herself (Femme nue debout, a sa toilette) by Edgar Degas, executed around 1890, captures the artist’s characteristic focus on unidealized, private moments of the female figure. This sophisticated French work is classified as a print, specifically a lithograph on laid paper, a medium Degas explored extensively in the latter decades of his career. The technique, which involves drawing directly onto a stone or plate, allowed Degas to achieve a softness and complexity of tone reminiscent of his favored medium, pastel, while producing reproducible works.

The subject matter aligns with the artist’s commitment during the period 1876 to 1900 to depicting women engaged in mundane, intimate routines, such as bathing and grooming (la toilette). The woman in this piece is captured standing, focused entirely on the action of drying herself, seemingly unaware of the viewer's gaze. This naturalistic approach marked a significant shift away from the theatrical or mythological nudity favored by academic painters, grounding the figure studies in contemporary domestic reality. Degas often utilized stark lighting and cropped compositions to emphasize the immediacy of the observation, transforming these private acts into powerful statements about form and light.

Degas's continued experimentation with prints, including etching and lithography, demonstrates his versatility and dedication to pushing graphic boundaries. This deliberate exploration of printmaking processes resulted in a varied and compelling body of work that stands alongside his celebrated canvases and sculptures. As a key example of the artist's commitment to modern realism, this piece resides in the renowned collection of the National Gallery of Art. Depending on current institutional rights, high-quality images of this masterwork may be available through public domain resources, allowing broader access to these important 19th-century figure studies.