Leaving the Bath

Leaving the Bath — Edgar Degas. 1879–80.

Medium: drypoint, aquatint. Dimensions: Image and Plate: 12.7 x 12.7 cm (5 x 5 in.); Sheet: 21.5 x 29.5 cm (8 7/16 x 11 5/8 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

In Leaving the Bath, a woman is seen from behind as she awkwardly grips a tub while cautiously stepping out of it. Nearby, a maid is mostly obscured by a cloth meant to dry and warm her. Their sketchlike surroundings communicate intimacy and privacy and, in what would become a characteristic aspect of his bather imagery, Edgar Degas places the viewer in a voyeuristic perspective, with the two women unaware of our presence. The artist began to explore etching in the 1850s, registering in the print department of Paris’s Bibliothèque Nationale so that he could closely study the works of past masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn. Degas saw prints as having an important part to play in the Impressionists’ group exhibitions and displayed them alongside paintings there.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.