Mme Vuillard in a Set Designer's Studio

Edouard Vuillard

1893–94 · Oil on canvas · Robert Lehman Collection

The complex architecture of this interior suggests that it was painted in the studio where Vuillard worked as a set painter. The figure shown before the staircase may be Vuillard’s mother, a seamstress, who appears to be crouching over a balustrade either working on a garment or in pensive repose. Starting in 1889, Vuillard was associated with a group of young avant-garde artists who called themselves the Nabi (Hebrew for “prophet”). They painted from memory, unlike their predecessors, the Impressionists, who painted of the moment.

Artist

Edouard Vuillard

Date

1893–94

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975