Charcoal and pastel on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
C Frank Stoop
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/edgar-degas-988" aria-label="More by Edgar Degas" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Edgar Degas</a>
Woman at her Toilet
Presented by C. Frank Stoop 1933
actions: processes and functions
adults
bedroom
clothing and personal items
combing hair
cup / mug
domestic
domestic
hairbrush
interiors
kitchen
maid
objects
people
vase
vessels and containers
woman
work and occupations
<p>In contrast to conventional treatments of this subject, Degas provides little detail in this scene of a woman at her toilette. Instead, he has focused on the formal aspects of the composition. The action of the woman combing her hair is anchored within the rectangle formed by the woman's arms and the table edge. The contrast of the soft form of the active central figure and the heavily outlined shape of the immobile maid generates a visual tension and energy, which is heightened by the rich treatment of the walls and furnishings.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper unique charcoal pastel
6 October 2005 – 14 May 2006
2006-05-14
18 February 2006 – 14 May 2006
2006-05-14
2006-02-18
Phillips Collection (Washington, USA)
2005-10-06
Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris 1870-1910
Exhibition
7 May 2008 – 13 August 2008
2008-08-13
7 May 2008 – 10 August 2008
2008-08-10
2008-05-07
National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin, Ireland)
http://www.nationalgallery.ie
2008-05-07
Impressionist Interiors
Loan-out
30 September 2012 – 27 January 2013
2013-01-27
30 September 2012 – 27 January 2013
2013-01-27
2012-09-30
Fondation Beyeler (Riehen/Basel, Switzerland)
http://www.beyeler.com
2012-09-30
Degas: The Late Works
Loan-out
6 June 2013 – 1 September 2013
2013-09-01
6 June 2013 – 1 September 2013
2013-09-01
2013-06-06
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen, Denmark)
2013-06-06
Degas's Method
Loan-out
24 June 2016 – 16 January 2017
2017-01-16
24 June 2016 – 18 September 2016
2016-09-18
2016-06-24
National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia)
http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au
16 October 2016 – 16 January 2017
2017-01-16
2016-10-16
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, USA)
http://www.mfah.org
2016-06-24
Degas: A New Vision
Loan-out
29 September 2018 – 13 January 2019
2019-01-13
29 September 2018 – 13 January 2019
2019-01-13
2018-09-29
The Lightbox (Woking, UK)
http://www.thelightbox.org/
2018-09-29
French Impressionism and Post Impressionism: Art of the Everyday
Loan-out
Woman at her Toilet
support: 956 × 1099 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999963" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">C. Frank Stoop</a> 1933
<p>In contrast to conventional treatments of this subject, Degas provides little detail in this scene of a woman at her toilette. Instead, he has focused on the formal aspects of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>. The action of the woman combing her hair is anchored within the rectangle formed by the woman's arms and the table edge. The contrast of the soft <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/form" title="Glossary definition for 'Form'"><span>form</span></a> of the active central figure and the heavily outlined shape of the immobile maid generates a visual tension and energy, which is heightened by the rich treatment of the walls and furnishings.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
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DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Edgar Degas</b><span> 1834-1917 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/degas-woman-at-her-toilet-n04711" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04711</span></a> </span><b>Femme </b><b>à</b><b>
sa Toilette</b><span> (Woman at her Toilet) </span><i>c</i><span>.1894 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'Degas' t.r.</span>
<br/><span>Pastel on paper, 37 5/8 x 43 1/4 (95.5 x 110)</span>
<br/><span>Bequeathed by C. Frank Stoop 1933</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
With Ambroise Vollard, Paris; C. Frank Stoop, London</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>A Collection of Drawings by Deceased Masters</i><span>, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, November 1917-March 1918 (6) as 'La Toilette', lent by Frank Stoop; </span><i>French Art 1200-1900</i><span>, RA, London, January-March 1932 (942); RSA, Edinburgh, April-August 1946 (161); </span><i>Degas</i><span>, RSA, Edinburgh, August-September 1952 (33); Tate Gallery, September-October 1952 (33)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
P.A. Lemoisne, </span><i>Degas et son Oeuvre</i><span> (Paris 1946), No.1161, Vol.3, p.674, repr. p.675 as 'La Toilette' </span><i>c</i><span>.1894; Douglas Cooper, </span><i>The Courtauld Collection</i><span>
(London 1954), p.74; Franco Russoli and Fiorella Minervino, </span><i>L'Opera Completa di Degas</i><span>
(Milan 1970), No.1168, p.138 repr.</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
Ambroise Vollard, </span><i>Degas</i><span>
(Paris 1914), pl.49 as 'Femme à sa Toilette'; </span><i>Burlington Magazine</i><span>, XXXI, 1917, p.190; John Rothenstein, </span><i>The Tate Gallery</i><span> (London 1958), p.131 in colour </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Sometimes known as 'The Toilet', but reproduced by Vollard in 1914 under the title 'Woman at her Toilet'. It seems to have been developed from a closely related <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/pastel" title="Glossary definition for 'Pastel'"><span>pastel</span></a> 'Woman in a Yellow Dressing-Gown combing her Hair' (Lemoisne No.1160, 110 x 100.5cm) formerly in the collection of Mrs Lathrop Brown of La Jolla, California, in which the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> has been extended by means of a strip of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> stuck along the top. All the differences point to the Tate's picture being the later, more resolved final version. For instance, the positions of the arms have been adjusted to form a more harmonious arabesque; the Lathrop Brown pastel has a dog in the foreground whose silhouette has been changed into a pattern on the tablecloth; and the woman's dressing-gown was originally golden orange, with the background tentatively divided up into patches of different colours, whereas the dressing-gown in the Tate's work is the same greenish yellow as the wall behind, so that they blend together. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.154, reproduced p.154</span>
<br/></p>
<p>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: processes and functions adults bedroom clothing and personal items combing hair cup / mug domestic domestic hairbrush interiors kitchen maid objects people vase vessels and containers woman work and occupations