The general public knows the taste of Degas for dance or horse racing, themes that he focused on in various famous paintings. But the interest of the artist in nudes is less well known, although it is also a major theme in his work. Painting, printmaking, pastel, photography, sculpture... Throughout his life, the French artist has represented the female naked body in various poses that are sometimes repeated several decades apart.

This theme also offers us a glimpse of the evolution of the artist’s work towards naturalistic art, including new techniques and the artistic modernity of the time. This exhibition is organised in tandem with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and benefits from outstanding loans from the world’s largest collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.