The Bath

The Bath is a seminal print created by Edgar Degas French, 1834-1917, between 1880 and 1885. This intimate work is executed in black ink monotype on cream laid paper, a medium that Degas embraced for its spontaneity and distinctive textural qualities. The monotype process involves drawing or painting in ink directly onto a smooth plate, which is then passed through a press only once, yielding a unique, unrepeatable impression. Degas utilized the rich, velvety blacks of the ink to depict the figure engaged in a private, mundane moment of bathing or self-care, continuing his artistic focus on unguarded, naturalistic depictions of modern French life.

Unlike his Impressionist peers who often painted idealized nudes or classical subjects, Degas focused his attention on the contemporary, unposed woman, captured without artifice or classical narrative. His prints from this period frequently explore themes of domesticity and the toilette. The medium of the monotype allowed Degas to experiment rapidly with form and shadow, giving the resulting image a sense of immediacy and dynamic composition characteristic of his later work. This essential classification of prints resides in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, offering scholars and the public an outstanding example of the artist's graphic output. As a classic work of late 19th-century French art, the piece’s visual data is often referenced for public domain study.