Bather Drying Herself (Baigneuse s'essuyant)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

Renoir painted the female nude obsessively during his later career. He devoted hundreds of canvases to the depiction of bathing figures, presented alone or in groups. Here, as in the vast majority of these paintings, the bather does not acknowledge the presence of the artist or viewer but remains absorbed in her task, heightening the sense of voyeurism. Renoir achieved the effect of the soft and velvety-looking skin by applying liquid-thin paint in short, delicate strokes; this a hallmark of his late works.

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