Interior by Degas

Wednesday with Degas!

[From Wikipedia] 'Described by Theodore Reff as "the most puzzling of Degas's major works", it depicts a tense confrontation by lamplight between a man and a partially undressed woman. The theatrical character of the scene has led art historians to seek a literary source for the composition, but none of the sources proposed has met with universal acceptance. Even the painting's title is uncertain; acquaintances of the artist referred to it either as Le Viol or Intérieur, and it was under the latter title that Degas exhibited it for the first time in 1905.'

It is also described as one of the most staged of Degas' works. According to Gordon and Forge, it is "the most theatrical of all Degas's compositions of modern life."

For more, read the full entry at Wikipedia.

Interior, or The Rape, 1868-69, Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, USA