The Bather by Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (1834–1917) was a French impressionist painter but was more of  a precursor to the French bohemian movement during the late 1800's. He was known mostly for his expressions of modern life and female nudes.  In the Bather,  Degas uses pastels, a chalk medium, to create a high quality with a unfinish or rough appearance. Also, He uses a private moment not seen nor made aware of anyone but the subject.  His technique creates a keyhole view point with his subject and the audience would feel a sense of catching a rare glimpse of beauty.  When compared to the standard studio nude painings during his time, Degas' approach and the use of pastels, instead of brush and oil paints, was a shift into a bohemian culture and expression.