Woman at Her Toilette 1899

Edgar Degas created "Woman at Her Toilette" using pastel. Notice how Degas composes the scene with a focus on form and structure, using colour to establish an intimate and immediate experience. The composition, fractured and cropped, directs our gaze across planes of colour, with the woman almost dissolving into her surroundings. Degas' marks create both depth and flatten the pictorial space. This interplay between surface and depth challenges traditional perspective, inviting us to consider how we perceive space. The woman's body is fragmented, her identity subordinated to form. Here, Degas destabilizes traditional representations of the female nude. Rather than presenting an idealized form, he captures a moment of private, unglamorous self-care. The lack of clear narrative encourages us to focus on the materiality of the pastel strokes and the tension between abstraction and representation. The piece isn't just a depiction; it's an exploration of seeing and being seen, pushing us to question the codes and conventions of representation.