The first leisure scene that includes water appeared in C┼╜zanneΓÇÖs works in the early 1870s, when he painted a pastoral scene with a group of clothed men resting by a river or lake accompanied by naked women. In that decade the artist began to work on the theme that he would continue to develop until the end of his life. Even earlier, however, the subject had interested him, and in a letter to Zola of 20 June 1859, illustrated with an anecdotal bathing scene, he reminisced about how young people used to enjoy bathing in the fresh waters of the River Arc near to Aix. Later, these motifs were translated into elaborate compositions, including elements borrowed from the Classics, when they were depicted as nymphs. Later still, the bathers became contemporary figures, losing all literary associations and often deliberately distorted, with elongated torsos and androgynous bodies. These figures instill a sense of alienation in the viewer: they are present in the landscape but there is no logical reason for their presence.
Soon C┼╜zanne began to segregate the sexes in the paintings, and male and female figures never appeared in the same composition.
