Woman Having Her Hair Combed 1895

Edgar Degas made this pastel drawing, Woman Having Her Hair Combed, in the late 19th century. His work often depicted the private lives of women in intimate settings. Here, Degas captures a moment of personal care, but through a lens that prompts us to consider the dynamics of class and labor. We see a nude woman, her body presented in a way that feels both vulnerable and assertive, being attended to by another. This arrangement points to the economic realities of the time, where personal care was often a service provided by women of a lower class. The woman’s upward gaze might be interpreted as an assertion of self. Degas doesn't give us sentimentality. Instead, he offers a moment of reflection on the complex intersections of gender, class, and the act of seeing itself. The woman is caught, as it were, in a moment of self-possession. The piece invites us to think about who is seen and who is doing the seeing, and how those positions shape our understanding of such an intimate scene.