The artwork “Standing Bather, Drying Her Hair” is a creation of the artist Paul Cezanne, painted in 1869. It is an oil on canvas work that belongs to the Romanticism movement and is categorized under the genre of nude painting (nu). This piece is part of Cezanne’s “Bathers” series and, as of the knowledge cutoff in April 2023, it is held in a private collection.
The artwork depicts a solitary female figure positioned in a standing pose, occupied with the act of drying her hair. She uses both hands to gather her hair, drawing attention to the naturalism of the subject’s posture and movement. The bather is centrally positioned against a backdrop that evokes a sense of turbulent atmosphere, possibly suggesting the presence of water nearby. The use of loose, expressive brushstrokes captures the vitality and physicality of the figure, with the skin tones contrasting against the darker, more ambiguously defined background. The light source appears to be coming from above, highlighted the torso and limbs of the figure, thereby enhancing the sense of three-dimensionality.
Cezanne’s treatment of the figure and space is indicative of his move towards the deconstruction of classical perspective and foreshadows his future contributions to the development of modern art. Although the piece is associated with the Romanticism art movement, it also foreshadows the artist’s eventual shift toward Post-Impressionism, with a palpable sensation of the form and structure that would become characteristic of Cezanne’s later works.
