Anders Zorn, a Swedish painter, drawing artist, photographer, and sculptor, is known first and foremost as a master of secular portraits. He also made many paintings of young bathing women. In these small and freely painted artworks, resembling sketches, his talent as a colorist was fully revealed.

The painting “Bather” was created in 1897, when Zorn visited Russia for the Scandinavian exhibition held in St. Petersburg. This free and masterful artwork shows the obvious influence of impressionism in its courageous and rich shaping with wide brush strokes and its color scheme filled with light. It is dedicated to Konstantin Korovin, who was the artist’s friend and also became influenced by his art.