Bathing in art | 1800s

The 1800s mark two different approaches to the ritual of bathing.

 

The first half of the nineteenth century is characterised by a rejection of all forms of presence, including that of the artist. In a context where the toilette was losing its social significance, the only paintings to still show the ritual of bathing are the ones that deviate from the true subject. 

 

Jean-Baptiste Mallet, "The Gothic Bathroom", 1810

 

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, "Morning Toilette", 1837

 

Jean Baptiste Fortuné de Fournier, "Le cabinet de toilette de l'Impératrice Eugénie", 1860

 

During the last decades of the century, running water and plumbing become more common and we witness the gradual appearance of what we call "the bathroom". The depictions of bathing become more authentic, more intimate, less about the beauty and more about the truth. Nevertheless, an air of mystery is still maintained around the bathing universe, a universe that is deemed to be preponderately feminine. 

 

Edgar Degas, "Woman Leaving Her Bath", 1886

 

Édouard Manet, "Femme nue se coiffant", 1879

 

Giacomo Favretto, "Dopo il bagno", 1884

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, "Femme au tub", 1896

 

Władysław Ślewiński, "Woman combing her hair", 1897