Family at Table

Artist Edouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940)

Datelate 19th Century

DimensionsH: 12 in. (30.5 cm); W: 18 in. (45.7 cm)

MediumPastel on paper.

ClassificationDrawings

Credit LineGift of Barbara B. Reed

Object number

2000.64

Not on View

Label TextÉdouard Vuillard’s preference for interior domestic scenes earned him the title of “intimist” in the 1890s. The sense of quiet industriousness of Family at the Table evokes Vuillard’s own personal life—he lived with his mother and sister, who were dressmakers working from their home. While Vuillard spent much of his career painting with oils, he was also very skilled with chalk pastel—a notoriously difficult material to work with. His treatment of the medium here is very sketchy and transparent, leaving much of the brown of the paper showing through, lending an overall warmth of tone to the image.Published References"La chronique des arts: principales acquisitions des musées en 2001," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 149, no. 1598, Mar. 2002, repr. p. 58.