Woman Having Her Hair Combed

Woman Having Her Hair Combed, created by Edgar Degas between 1886 and 1888, is a significant example of the artist's late-career fixation on intimate, unposed studies of female subjects. Classified as a drawing, this piece utilizes pastel applied to light green wove paper. The paper support, originally green, has naturally discolored over time and now presents as a warm gray tone, a condition often seen in works of this period. The drawing remains affixed to its original pulpboard mount, preserving the context of its creation.

Degas became increasingly dedicated to capturing moments of private domesticity in the 1880s, focusing on women bathing, dressing, and having their hair attended to. This work depicts two figures absorbed in their ritual, emphasizing the casual realism that defined Degas’s modern approach to the female form and expanding the thematic tradition of the toilette. Degas employed pastel with a masterful freedom, using broad, parallel strokes to build color and suggest the texture of the figures and the surrounding space. The emphasis is on immediate impression rather than detailed finish, illustrating the artist’s mature technique.

This expressive piece offers a crucial view into the Impressionist master's shift toward increasingly private subject matter and his technical innovations with the pastel medium. The work currently resides in the renowned collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. As a canonical late 19th-century drawing, this artwork is frequently studied and reproduced. High-quality prints of this important study of female nudes are widely available, contributing to the rich collection of art accessible through the public domain.