This week’s article is mainly a visual stroll into the previous centuries, with paintings depicting bathing rituals over time. Below find my collection of images of women bathing or performing cleansing rituals and why I find it so fascinating.
The bathroom for me is a sacred place, a site of total transformation where profound personal healing can and does occur. Ritualistic soaking, face masks, daily routines, lotions and potions, they all take place in this one room. In my article “exfoliating” I talked about how scrubbing your skin is a synonym to washing your troubles away, and I deeply believe this. A good bath can do that too, as well as a detoxifying mask. Skincare rituals are by definition self care acts, and in art terms, sometimes to highlight the principal of purity. So here are some of my favorite paintings, however if you would like to see more then check out my Pintrest board. Check out two of my all-time favourite articles from Another Magazine that go deeper into this fascinating world of bathing.
A Celebration of Bathing Rituals, JULY 23 2015, TEXT Daisy Woodward, Olivia Singer.
Five Unwritten Rules of Communal Bathing, SEPTEMBER 07 2016, TEXT Maisie Skidmore
Woman at Her Toilette them, Washing Herself – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Gustave Caillebotte – Femme à sa toilette
The Bather – Pierre Bonnard (1935)
Edgar Degas The Tub
Melanie x
The Green Edit
