Girl Drying Herself by Degas

This superb pastel on paper by Degas Edgar, entitled “Girl Drying Herself”, testifies to his essential contribution to the impressionist and realist movement of his era. Through this theme, the painter profoundly renews the traditional subject of the artistic female nude. The artist chooses to observe his model in a daily moment without artificial posing, thus freeing himself from the rigid aesthetic and academic canons of his time.

The vertical composition highlights a young red-haired woman depicted from behind, entirely nude, standing in a bucolic outdoor setting. She holds firmly with both hands a large white sheet or soft towel with a bluish tone that almost completely envelops her head and shoulders. Her bare feet rest on a large dark blue fabric thrown on the lush green grass of a sunny meadow. On the right, the sturdy trunk of a tree rises vertically to the sky, while the background is made of dense green foliage and bright yellow touches suggesting the soft natural light of a particularly radiant underwood.

The artist’s exceptional craftsmanship is expressed in the vibrant use of pastel, which gives a velvety and carnal texture to the bather’s skin. The vigorous and superimposed hatchings model the volumes with an almost sculptural power, while capturing the changing vibrations of light on the body.