Baigneuse debout

Aristide Maillol made his first sculpture in around 1895. Baigneuse debout (1899) is one in a series of female bathers that Maillol made in a variety of poses and materials. This work has the typical elements of Maillol’s oeuvre: a sense of serenity and an abstract depiction of the face, in which personal features are lacking. For Maillol, the physical expression of his idea was more about the form than the content: the rounded volumes, the smooth surface. He took his inspiration from the pre-classical era of Egyptian and Greek art. His theme was the female body, which he closely studied and interpreted during his long career. The Stedelijk’s collection includes several bathers, male and female, by famous artists such as Edgar Dégas, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Kazimir Malevich, as well as one from 1977 by video artist Gary Hill.