The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 7, 2026

A grainy, square-oriented drypoint and aquatint print depicts a nude figure with a light skin tone standing center, back to us and leaning forward. To our right, another figure holds up a large, light-colored sheet, partially obscuring their body. Heavy diagonal hatching fills the background walls and textured floor. A rounded, patterned object sits in the lower right. The overall composition is defined by fine, sketchy lines and deep tones.

Leaving the Bath

1879–80

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
France
drypoint, aquatint
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.)
Alma Kroeger Fund 2025.198
Catalogue raisonné: Delteil 39; Adhemar & Cachin 49; Reed and Shapiro 42
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Edgar Degas created this print by drawing on a copper plate, not with a traditional etching needle, but with a copper rod—a component of early electric lamps. This nontraditional tool produced an effect that Degas appreciated, and he experimented further after bringing the plate home by working on it with materials ranging from an emery pencil to a stone.

Description

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.
  • Estate of Edgar Degas (Lugt 657)
    1918
    his posthumous sale, Paris (experts Delteil, Bernheim-Jeune, Durand-Ruel, Vollard), 22 November 1918, lot 96.
    1987
    Galerie Kornfeld, Berne, Switzerland, 17 June 1987, lot 33
    Collection of Samuel Josefowitz
    September 25, 2025
    (Christie's, London, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    December 1, 2025–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Galerie Manzi-Joyant (Paris, France). Eaux-Fortes, Vernis-Mous, Aqua-Tintes Par Edgar Degas et Provenant de Son Atelier., 1918. Mentioned: p. 19, no. 96.
    Galerie Kornfeld. Kunstwerke Des 19. Bis 21. Jahrhunderts, Teil II. Bern: Galerie Kornfeld, 2019. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 33.
    Degas, Edgar, Richard Kendall, Anthea Callen, Dillian Gordon, and Tate Gallery Liverpool. Degas, Images of Women. Millbank, London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1989. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 60, no. 36.
    Minder, Nicole, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Richard R. Brettell, Eric Gillis, and Musée Jenisch Cabinet cantonal des estampes. Degas & Pissarro : Alchimie d’Une Rencontre. Vevey (Suisse): Cabinet cantonal des estampes, Musée Jenisch, 1998. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 80, no. 54.
    Minder, Nicole, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Richard R. Brettell, Eric Gillis, and Musée Jenisch Cabinet cantonal des estampes. Degas & Pissarro : Alchimie d’Une Rencontre. Vevey (Suisse): Cabinet cantonal des estampes, Musée Jenisch, 1998. Mentioned: p. 79, no. 54; Reproduced: p. 80.
  • Degas & Pissarro: alchimie d'une rencontre, Cabinet cantonal des estampes, Vevey, France; Musée du Québec, Canada; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel (August 1998–October 1999).
    Degas, Images of Women, The Tate Modern, Liverpool, England (September 22–December 31, 1989).
  • {{cite web|title=Leaving the Bath|url=false|author=Edgar Degas|year=1879–80|access-date=07 June 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.198