The nude is not an immobile genre but a field of experimentation where each era redefines the relationship between body, gaze and painting. In the academic tradition, study from a living model learns proportions, anatomy, balance and light even before leading to a historical or mythological composition. The 19th century gradually shifted this function. Eduardo Rosales and Mariano Fortuny show the body in light with new frankness; Madrazo's Raimundo and show the body in light with new frankness; Madrazo's Raimundo show the body in light with new frankness; Madrazo's Raimundo combines the post-bath pattern with modern intimacy. Whistler transforms Madrazo's nude into line, attitude and graphic rhythm. Gauguin simplifies the volumes and detaches the figure from European conventions, while Renoir made flesh into a colored material. At the beginning of the 20th century, Arthur B. Davies and William Glackens continued their research into movement and pose, but Egon Schiele broke with the ideal: angles, twists, drapes and empty spaces exposed a vulnerable and voluntary presence. At Soutine, pictorial material seems to cross the body. This collection therefore makes it possible to compare preparatory study, seated figure, lying body, exit from the bath, dance and expressionist experimentation, without reducing the nude to a single canon. In Soutine, pictorial material seems to cross the body. This collection therefore makes it possible to compare preparatory study, seated figure, lying body, exit from the bath, dance and expressionist experimentation, without reducing the nude to a single canon. This collection therefore makes it possible to compare preparatory study, seated figure, lying body, exit from the bath, dance and expressionist experimentation, without reducing the nude to a single canon. The "Nude paintings" selection notably compares Female nude or After the bath and Female nude. Its reading favors color.
The nude reveals less of a universal body than the way each painter chooses to look: measure, idealize, desire, fragment or let matter speak.