Bather Drying Herself

In the pictureOn the left of an off-white sheet, a nude woman stands in profile, bending her upper body forward with her head dropped toward the lower right. Her hair is twisted up at the back, and she holds a towel to her stomach and thighs with both hands, so that it hangs long in front of her legs. In the background behind her body, on the left, blue pastel is laid on broadly in vertical strokes. The outline of the body is drawn over several times in charcoal, and the shadows are rubbed and blended. The right half of the picture is almost bare paper; at lower right is 'Degas' in red, and at bottom center a small round stamp.

BackgroundIn the 1880s Degas drew women bathing and drying themselves countless times. He is reported to have said that he wanted to show not a posed model but a moment when the woman is unaware of being watched. This study dates from about 1883–84, in charcoal and pastel on off-white laid paper (paper that keeps fine lines from the mold), and measures 32.1×24.8 cm. Bather Sponging Her Knee, drawn on the same paper at about the same time, came in with it through the Rogers Fund in 1918; this one has a standing pose and a broad blue area, while that one has a raised leg and added gray wash.

Puzzle tipThe pieces fall into three kinds: blue pastel, charcoal outline and bare paper. Gather the blue pieces first in the vertical strip on the left, then join the dark outlines of the twisted-up hair and curved back to build the curve of the body. Where the towel hangs, the charcoal strokes run vertically, which sets it apart from the legs. Fill the bare paper of the right half from the red signature pieces at the bottom upward. 24 or 48 pieces work well.