Description
The country of origin depicted in this Orientalist painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme is unknown. Gérôme portrays a black-haired Caucasian woman being bathed by an African woman who tends to her. The bathroom features a large, elaborate sink surrounded by porcelain tiles. Turquoise tiles also line the room, lending it an air of elegance.
Looking more closely at the painting, one can see Arabic script in the upper right. This script symbolizes that the setting of the painting is in the Arab world. Moreover, when considering the relationship between the two women, the white woman’s face is turned away from the African woman. This dynamic plays into an Orientalist lens: the white woman extends her hand as if she has no respect for the woman washing her, and a power struggle is clearly visible. By looking away and extending her hand as if she should be pampered, the white woman gives the viewer the impression that her status is far higher than that of the Black woman. Similarly, looking at the African woman’s clothing, she wears a headdress and fabric wrapped around her body, but her clothing is falling off.
This could be interpreted as the reason the white woman is unwilling to look at her, since her nudity is inherently disturbing to white society. Finally, by depicting the white woman nude, Gérôme plays on French men’s desires for women of the East.
Although her breasts are not exposed, men would have been intrigued by her nudity, as it would have reassured them in their impressions of the East as exotic.
The Bath ranks No. 85 on the list of famous paintings