Femme nue, de dos, se coiffant c. 1886 - 1888

Editor: So, here we have Degas' *Femme nue, de dos, se coiffant*, which roughly translates to "Naked Woman, from the Back, Combing Her Hair," probably created sometime between 1886 and 1888. It looks like it’s primarily rendered in pastel, maybe some oil pastel in there as well. I’m struck by how intimate it feels, almost voyeuristic, despite the muted color palette. What's your take? What do you see when you look at this piece? Curator: Intimate is precisely the word! It's like stumbling upon a private moment, isn't it? Degas, in his rebellious way, wasn’t interested in idealized beauty. Here’s a woman utterly unposed, absorbed in a mundane act. It’s not about grand narratives, but about the quiet poetry of daily life, seen from behind, vulnerable. He doesn’t pretty things up! It reminds me of someone catching me while attempting a tricky yoga pose in the living room - far from elegant, slightly awkward, but real. Do you notice the way he uses pastel? It’s almost sculptural in places. Editor: I do. I was thinking about how tactile it is; it has such a wonderful velvety feel in places. Was Degas part of that whole Impressionist revolution? Curator: Absolutely. Though he resisted labels, he showed with the Impressionists. Think of his racehorses or his ballerinas, capturing movement, light, fleeting impressions, which feels radically contemporary! This pastel captures the texture of skin and hair so sensuously and he gives off a hint of an interior space behind her, creating mood through color washes. Editor: The thing about this pastel that’s especially growing on me is how the figure interacts with its spatial background, how that background fades almost into nothing! It's an unexpected harmony between figure and ground. Curator: And in that nothingness, he creates a universe, all the more impressive in a work that seems, at first glance, so very straightforward!