''The Turkish Bath'' (') is an

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

, initially completed between 1852 and 1859, but modified in 1862. The painting depicts a group of nude women at a pool in a

harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

. It has an erotic style that evokes both the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

and earlier western styles associated with mythological subject matter. The painting expands on a number of motifs that Ingres had explored in earlier paintings, in particular '' The Valpinçon Bather'' (1808) and ''La Grande odalisque'' (1814) and is an example of Romanticism. The work is signed and dated 1862, when Ingres was around 82 years old. He altered the original rectangular format and changed the painting to a tondo. A photograph of its original state, taken by Charles Marville, survives.

Description

The painting is known for its subtle colourisation, especially the very pale skin of the women resting in the privacy of a bathing area. The figures are given an almost abstract and "slender and sinuous" form, and seem at times to lack skeleton. They are arranged in a very harmonious, circular manner, a curved arrangement that heightens the eroticism of the painting. Its charge is in part achieved through the use of motifs that include the implied haze of Oriental perfume, and the inclusion of vases, running water, fruit and jewels, as well as a palette that ranges from pale white to pink, ivory, light greys and a variety of browns. The choice to convert the painting to a tondo both centralises the composition and adds a voyeuristic element to the composition as the viewer observes the naked women through the oculus. This effect is highlighted as we know Ingres never travelled beyond Europe so his romantic vision of the Bathers is totally idealised. Ingres relished the irony of producing an erotic work in his old age, painting an inscription of his age (''AETATIS LXXXII'', "at age 82") on the work—in 1867 he told others that he still retained "all the fire of a man of thirty years". He did not paint this work from live models, but from croquis and several of his earlier paintings, reusing "bather" and " odalisque" figures he had drawn or painted as single figures on beds or beside a bath. The figure from '' The Valpinçon Bather'' appears almost identically as the central element of the later composition, but now plays a

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

. The woman in the background with her arm extended and holding a cup resembles the sitter in his portrait of Madame Moitessier (1856). The face of the woman with her arms raised above her head in the near right is similar to a ''croquis'' (1818) of the artist's wife, Delphine Ramel, though her right shoulder is lowered while her right arm is raised. The other bodies are juxtaposed in various unlit areas behind them. Ingres drew from a wide variety of painterly sources, including 19th-century academic art,

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

and late

Mannerism Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

. The colourisation is one of "chastising coolness", while figures merge into each other in a manner that evokes sexuality, but ultimately is intended to show Ingres's skill at defying rational perspective.

Orientalist influences

Ingres was influenced by the contemporary fashion for

Orientalism In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...

, relaunched by Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. On leaving for Italy in 1806, he copied into his notebooks a text extolling "the baths of the seraglio of Mohammed", in which can be read a description of a harem where one "goes into a room surrounded by sofas ..and it is there that many women destined for this use attend the sultana in the bath, wiping her handsome body and rubbing the softest perfumes into her skin; it is there that she must then take a voluptuous rest". La grande piscine de brousse

In 1825, he copied a passage from ''Letters from the Orient'' by

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont; 15 May 168921 August 1762) was an English aristocrat, medical pioneer, writer, and poet. Born in 1689, Lady Mary spent her early life in England. In 1712, Lady Mary married Edward Wortley Montagu, ...

, who had accompanied her British diplomat husband to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1716. Her letters had been re-published eight times in France alone between 1763 and 1857, adding to the Orientalist craze. The passage Ingres copied was entitled "Description of the women's bath at

Adrianople Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

" and reads: "I believe there were two hundred women there in all. Beautiful naked women in various poses... some conversing, others at their work, others drinking coffee or tasting a

sorbet Sorbet (, ) is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, or other ingredients, such as wine, liqueur, or honey. Sorbet does not contain dairy products. Sherbet is similar to sorbet, but contains dairy. Etymolog ...

, and many stretched out nonchalantly, whilst their slaves (generally ravishing girls of 17 or 18 years) plaited their hair in fantastical shapes." Literary critic Ruth Yeazell opines that the environment of ''The Turkish Bath'' bears little resemblance to the public bathing described by Lady Montagu. In contrast to

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...

, who visited an Algerian harem, Ingres never travelled to Africa or the Middle East, and the courtesans shown are more Caucasian and European than Middle Eastern or African in appearance. For Ingres the oriental theme was above all a pretext for portraying the female nude in a passive and sexual context. Exotic elements are few and far between in the image: musical instruments, a

censer A censer, incense burner, perfume burner or pastille burner is a vessel made for burning incense or perfume in some solid form. They vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction, and have been in use since ancient times throughout t ...

and a few ornaments.

Provenance

The painter's first buyer was a relation of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

, but he handed it back some days later, his wife having found it "unsuitable" ("peu convenable"). It was purchased in 1865 by Khalil Bey, a former Turkish diplomat who added it to his collection of erotic paintings.

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

demanded that ''The Turkish Bath'' be shown at the

Exposition Universelle (1855) The of 1855 (), better known in English as the 1855 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the . It was the first of ten major expositions ...

, in the wake of which came contrasting reactions:

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...

, for example, compared it to a "cake full of maggots". At the start of the 20th century, patrons wished to offer ''The Turkish Bath'' to the Louvre, but the museum's council refused it twice. After the national collections of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

offered to buy it, the Louvre finally accepted it in 1911, thanks to a gift by the

Société des amis du Louvre Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

, to whom the patron Maurice Fenaille made a three-year interest-free loan of 150,000 Francs for the purpose.

Legacy

''The Turkish Bath'' has inspired many modern artists. It can be seen in

Félix Vallotton Félix Édouard Vallotton (; December 28, 1865December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as '. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portra ...

's 1907 painting ''Le Bain turc'', in

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

's ''Les demoiselles d'Avignon'' or in Tamara de Lempicka's ''Femmes au bain'' (1922). Its influence became even more noticeable from the 1960s onwards through numerous appropriations. Among the most explicit references to Ingres's Turkish Bath are Martial Raysse's ''Made in Japan, a Turkish and Implausible Painting'' (1965),

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954� ...

's ''Revolver I'' (1967), Harry Nadler's ''Le Bain turc'' (1968) and, in the pop style, Robert Ballagh's ''The Turkish Bath after Ingres'' (1970). It precisely is because so many artists have referred to it that Ingres's ''Turkish Bath'' caught the attention of the painter

Herman Braun-Vega Herman Braun-Vega (7 July 1933 in Lima — 2 April 2019 in Paris) was a Peruvian painter and artist. Although his work has always been figurative, it was at first (before 1970) close to abstraction. It experienced a decisive turning point when t ...

, who considers Ingres a pivotal figure between classical and modern painting. ''Le bain turc à New York'' is a series of 15 variations on Ingres's ''Turkish Bath'' created in 1972 by Braun-Vega for exhibition at the Lerner-Heller Gallery in New York. Braun-Vega moves Ingres's painting into modern contexts, depicting Ingres's bathers in scenes of everyday life in New York, on the streets, on the beach, or surrounding them with contemporary elements such as milk cartons and newspapers, creating a dialogue between past and present that is part of his exploration of the legacy of the great classics of painting in modern art. The notion of heritage is also central to the painting ''Caramba!'' in which Braun-Vega claims to be the heir of Velazquez, Goya, Rembrandt, Ingres, Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso, Ingres being represented by the Turkish Bath. When Braun-Vega does not use Ingres's tondo to express his artistic filiation, he can use it, for example, to express social criticism. Thus, in ''Le Bain à Barranco (Ingres)'', classical figures of ''The Turkish Bat''h are confronted with indigenous Peruvians, highlighting cultural and economic disparities. Other Braun-Vega paintings also refer to ''The Turkish bath'', including ''La papaye au bain (Picasso, Ingres, El Greco)'', ''Le Bain à Cantolao ou 8,7 = rideau (Ingres)'', ''Etat critique (Ingres, Picasso)'', ''L'artiste et ses modeles (Ingres)'', ''Matisse maîtrise couleurs et lumières avec ses ciseaux''. In 1973, Welsh-born American feminist artist

Sylvia Sleigh Sylvia Sleigh (8 May 1916 – 24 October 2010) was a Welsh-born naturalised American Realism (visual arts), realist painter who lived and worked in New York City. She is known for her role in the feminist art movement and especially for r ...

painted a riposte to the male gaze of Ingres with a painting of the same name. But her ''The Turkish Bath'' is gender-reversed, depicting male nudes – some in similar positions to those of the women in the Ingres original.

References

External links