Edgar DegasFrench, 1834–1917The Bathers
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Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
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- In this state since
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- The museum's own collection data
About the work
This pastel marks one of Degas's most ambitious projects during the last decade of his life. Evoking four bathers each at distinct points in the bathing process, this vision was created by suspending layers of pastel in fixative on translucent tracing paper, which the artist pieced together and mounted. Like many of his best works, this ephemeral creation was discovered in Degas's studio at the time of his death, perhaps deliberately unfinished.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
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- Art Institute of Chicago: the museum's own open data · fetched 7 days ago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — CC0 / public domain (AIC image API)
Meanwhile, in the life of Edgar Degas
The whole life1886
The eighth exhibition: pastel nudes, and the end of the group
At the last Impressionist exhibition Degas showed a suite of pastel nudes, which drew more critical writing than anything else in his lifetime, mostly laudatory. The group broke up, partly through rancour over the inclusion of non-Impressionists such as Forain and Raffaëlli.
after 1886
Into the shadows: he stops exhibiting
After 1886 Degas stopped exhibiting and sold his pictures at high prices through a narrow circle of agents. By the end of the decade he had in effect fulfilled his wish to be “famous and unknown”, withdrawing among close friends.
late 1880s
A passion for photography
Degas photographed his friends, often by lamplight, as in the double portrait of Renoir and Mallarmé. Photographs of dancers and nudes served as references for his drawings and paintings.
