Nude Woman Pulling on Her Clothes

Edgar Degas captures a woman in an intimate moment of dressing, viewed from behind. The pastel medium allows soft, chalky textures that convey flesh and fabric with notable subtlety.

Degas devoted his later career to studies of women bathing and dressing, observed as if through a keyhole. His Impressionist colleagues admired his draftsmanship while critics debated whether his gaze was clinical or voyeuristic. This work resides at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.