About this artwork

This small bronze sculpture shows a young girl gently washing herself in a shallow basin. Degas started by modelling the figure in dark-red beeswax and used plaster to make the 'water'. He gave her a real sponge to hold and placed her in an actual lead basin. After Degas's death, this small mixed-media model was discovered in his studio and cast in bronze. The National Galleries of Scotland's version is one of twenty-two casts that were made. In the later years of his career, Degas repeatedly explored the theme of the female bather. The Tub demands to be viewed from above, an original idea for the time. It was never intended for exhibition, but was a personal exploration of a self-absorbed figure in a private act of mundane intimacy.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917) French
  • title:
    The Tub
  • date created:
    About 1889
  • materials:
    Bronze
  • measurements:
    22.20 x 45.70 x 42.00 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Sir Alexander Maitland Bequest 1965
  • accession number:
    NG 2286
  • gallery:
  • subject:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas