At the Bathtub

At the Bathtub, dated 1914 and held at the Thiel Gallery in Stockholm, belongs to the extended series of bathing subjects that dominated Zorn's late figure work. The bathtub interior, with its combination of warm steam, reflected light on water and wet porcelain, and the unguarded figure of a woman at her ablutions, presented consistently rich optical problems that Zorn returned to repeatedly in the 1910s. The Thiel Gallery, Ernest Thiel's private collection transformed into a public museum, held several key works by Zorn and was among the most significant repositories of Scandinavian modern art in Stockholm. The 1914 date places this work among the strongest late bathing scenes, when Zorn's technique was at its most economical and his handling of indoor light on the wet female form had reached full command. The intimate subject is rendered without voyeuristic calculation — Zorn's approach was always observational rather than prurient.

Oil on canvas with warm, saturated indoor light creating the colour relationships distinctive to the bathing scenes: warm skin tones, cool wet ceramic or metal, and the steam-softened quality of enclosed bathroom space. Brushwork is direct and confident, with the figure's wet skin surface rendered through specific tonal gradations rather than smooth blending.