Intimate clothing was not common in art until artists began to explore people’s private lives. It only became prominent in the work of the Impressionists and their followers – Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Laura Knight, for example – who explored behind the scenes at the music hall, the ballet and the theatre. Nightwear however can be found in earlier paintings, when the scene is set at night-time, and its use is often humorous.