Vuillard, Lamp in an Interior
Close to the Nabis group during the last decades of the 19th century, Vuillard then moved away from the formal simplification promoted by the movement to devote himself to images of delightful interior scenes, in which the study of light and colour prevails. In this exhibition, Vuillard’s research is well represented by works from different periods. While the lithograph The Pastry Shop, dated 1898-1899, is still largely influenced by the tendency of Nabis grammar towards synthesis and two-dimensionality, the gouache with an interior scene from 1909 reveals an evolution of the artist’s style, a pursuit of new directions. In its simplicity and speed of execution, the painting captures the flavour of a moment of daily life, of family intimacy. The work was painted in the summer of 1909, when Vuillard was the guest of the Hessel family at their villa in Brittany. The visit offered the artist many ideas for cropped interior views like this one, in which the large lamp that gives the title to our gouache, the real protagonist of the composition, often appears.