Woman wiping her left foot

In 1886 the Impressionists held their eighth and final group show, and Degas hung a suite of pastels of women washing and drying themselves that became the talk of the exhibition. This bather belongs to that family of works. A nude woman bends double to wipe her left foot, seen as if you had come upon her unawares, with none of the posing of a classical nude. Degas said he wanted to show the body as though watched through a keyhole, and viewers argued over whether the results were honest or cruel. He worked in pastel, building the flesh and towel in dry, hatched strokes of colour he could layer quickly. His eyesight was failing by now, and the powdery directness of pastel suited a hand that could no longer chase fine detail.