How Much Is The Tub Worth?

The work and its stature. The Tub (1886) is the definitive statement of Degas’s bather theme, a landmark of his 1880s pastel technique and radical viewpoint. Exhibited at the 8th Impressionist exhibition in 1886, it is among the most reproduced and discussed images in Degas scholarship and a centerpiece of the Musée d’Orsay’s holdings [1]. As such, it sits at the very apex of Degas’s oeuvre, on par—within its subject category—with his most iconic dancer compositions.

Ownership and transferability. The pastel entered the French national collection via Comte Isaac de Camondo’s 1911 bequest, and is now at the Musée d’Orsay. French national museum collections are legally inalienable and imprescriptible; The Tub cannot be sold. Any pricing here is therefore hypothetical and framed as market-equivalent/insurance value, not an offerable fair-market transaction [2]. The last documented change of private hands was a dealer sale in April 1895 to Camondo, recorded at 16,000 francs (≈$3,090 at period parity) [3].

Market frame and comparables. Degas’s auction record stands at $41.6 million (with premium) for Petite danseuse de quatorze ans (Christie’s, 2022) [4]. High-quality pastels remain a core strength of his market: a prime dancer pastel brought $8.9 million in 2022 [7]; more recently, a strong late pastel, Trois danseuses, achieved $5.78 million (Sotheby’s, 2025) [5], while a closely related subject, Le petit déjeuner après le bain (pastel, 1890s), realized $2.48 million (Phillips, 2023) [6]. These results confirm deep demand for top-condition Degas pastels, with subject and quality driving significant premiums.

Deriving the estimate. Given The Tub’s iconic status, scale, 1886 date, and exhibition/literature pedigree, we extrapolate well beyond standard pastel comparables and above the current artist record. We apply a “masterpiece premium” observed across top Impressionist trophies: scarcity of museum-caliber images, global recognizability, and cross-category bidding can push pricing to 2x–3x an artist’s prior high. This yields a robust hypothetical auction range of $80–120 million, a level commensurate with the work’s singular stature and consistent with the upper tier for blue-chip Impressionist masterworks when true icons surface. For insurance/replacement, we center at approximately $100 million to reflect replacement cost and marketing risk, rather than expected hammer [4][5][6].

Key sensitivities. As with any pastel, condition is decisive: surface bloom, fading, support stability, and conservation history can materially affect value. Our estimate assumes an exhibition-ready state consistent with a major national collection. Legal inalienability is a valuation format—not a discount—consideration; were deaccession hypothetically possible and properly marketed, The Tub would draw museum-level buyers and private collectors, likely resetting Degas’s market high decisively [1][2].