The Bathers is the largest in a series of nude bather paintings by Cezanne, and is often referred to as the “Large Bathers” or “Big Bathers” to distinguish it from the other bather scenes painted by Cezanne. It is also considered one of the masterpieces of modern art, as well as Cezanne’s finest painting. It was purchased for $100,000 for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which was criticized for the expenditure, due to the fact that at the time ten percent of Philadelphia’s population was without bathtubs. The nude figures in the painting have been compared to Picasso’s later work Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon, suggesting the influence that Cezanne had on the painters of the period.