Edgar Degas, After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself
ca 1890-95Edgar Degas,After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself
ca 1890-95Paintings sorted by   Historical period  |   Painter  |  Subject matter  |  Pigments used
Overview
Medium:Â Pastel
Support:Â wove paper
Size: 103.5 x 98.5 cm
Art movements:Â Impressionism, Realism
National Gallery London
NG6295
‘After the Bath’ is a masterful example of artwork in pastel and it is thus not surprising that Bacon found Degas’s pastels better than his paintings (quoted in 2).
Bathing women are one of the recurring themes in Degas’s work and it can be encountered in many of his works in oil, pastel, and also in sculptures (1). A wide choice of nudes in the bath by Edgar Degas can be found on Art and Artists blog (3).
Pigments
Pigment Analysis
This pigment analysis is based on the work of the scientists at the National Gallery London (1).
1 Blue spot on the carpet: a single pastel stick containing Prussian blue, artificial ultramarine, a white pigment (chalk and kaolinite), and a little black.
2Â Blue background: a single pastel stick containing Prussian blue, artificial ultramarine, and a little black.
3 The bluish-green streak on the chair: pure Prussian blue.
4 Yellow slipper: cadmium yellow combined with yellow ochre in a single pastel stick.
5Â Orange spot on the carpet:Â orange ochre.
6 Red hair: vermillion with a small amount of madder lake and a little black.
7 Pinkish-brown curtain to the left: madder lake, red ochre, some vermilion, and some white and black in one single pastel stick.
8Â Reddish-purple strokes between the chair and the towel: madder lake.
9 White towel: madder lake and artificial ultramarine, red iron oxide pigment, and charcoal black.
References
(1) Bomford D, Herring S, Kirby J, Riopelle C, Roy A. Art in the Making: Degas. London: National Gallery Company, 2004, pp. 124-29.
Pigments Used in This Painting
Resources
Videos
Video: 'Degas and the Medium of Pastel' by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Video: 'Edgar Degas' by documentary tv
Video: 'Edgar Degas: A collection of 658 paintings (HD)' by LearnFromMasters
Publications and Websites
Publications
(1) Bomford D, Herring S, Kirby J, Riopelle C, Roy A. Art in the Making: Degas. London: National Gallery Company, 2004, pp. 124-29.
(2) Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, After the Bath 1890-05, National Gallery London.
(3) Theodore Reff, The Technical Aspects of Degas’s Art, Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 4 (1971), pp. 141-166, DOI: 10.2307/1512619.
