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Edouard VUILLARD
See original version (French)
29
-
Edouard VUILLARD
See original version (French)
Estimate €200,000 - €300,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Edouard VUILLARD
Madame Vuillard Peeling Vegetables – circa 1895
Oil on cardboard
Signed lower right ‘E.Vuillard’
24.7 x 22.9 cm
Provenance: Auction, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 18 May 1934, lot 105 (titled *La Ménagère*), sold for 7,900 francs
Alfred Daber Collection, Paris (before 1947)
Huguette Bérès, Paris (1956), then passed down through the family
Galerie Bérès, Paris
Acquired from the gallery by the current owner on 15 July 2021
Louis Grandchamp des Raux Collection
Exhibitions: Paris, Galerie Daber, ‘Remarkable Works by Vuillard’, April–May 1947
Basel, Kunsthalle, ‘Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940)’, Charles Hug, March–May 1949, no. 25, p. 8
Paris, Galerie Huguette Bérès, ‘Vuillard the Lithographer: Pastels, Gouaches, Drawings’, April–May 1956, reproduced
Paris, Galerie Huguette Bérès, ‘In the Time of the Nabis’, May–July 1990, no. 116, reproduced
Barcelona, Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, ‘The Nabis: from Bonnard to Vuillard’, March–June 2026, p. 239, reproduced in colour on p. 123
Warsaw, Royal Łazienki Museum, ‘The Nabis – Prophets of a New Art’, July–September 2026
Bibliography: C. Roger-Marx, *Vuillard et son temps*, Editions Arts et métiers graphiques, Paris, 1946, reproduced on p. 70
*Arts*, no. 113, 2 May 1947, reproduced on p. 1
A. Salomon, G. Cogeval, *Vuillard, le regard innombrable*, critical catalogue of paintings and pastels, Vol. I; Skira/Seuil – Wildenstein Institute, Paris, 2003, no. IV-179, reproduced in colour on p. 327
Oil on cardboard; signed lower right; 9 3/4 x 9 in.
Dated around 1895, the scene is set at 346 Rue Saint-Honoré, the address where Vuillard moved in with his mother in 1893, following the marriage of his sister Marie to his friend Ker-Xavier Roussel. The artist thus depicts interiors in which the figures stand out with a firm presence, whilst the décor appears to detach itself from the walls and begin to float in an almost immaterial space.
A profusion of small brushstrokes unifies the surface of the painting, erasing depth and disrupting the usual proportions. The family portraits and intimate scenes he produced during the last decade of the nineteenth century remain today among his most iconic and accomplished works (figs. 2 and 3). Mostly small in scale, these domestic scenes explore the complex relationships the artist maintained with his loved ones and his family. Madame Vuillard appears in them as both a sovereign matriarch and a muse. The peaceful and mysterious atmosphere of the scene is reminiscent of Vermeer’s works, which Vuillard had studied at length at the Louvre whilst studying at the École des Beaux-Arts. His diary also bears witness to this admiration: a drawing from 1888 based on Vermeer and several sketches of domestic scenes, depicting women gathered around a table, already foreshadow his interest in this subject. Among the Old Masters whom he revered, Chardin also occupies a key place (fig. 1): like him, Vuillard knew how to capture the silent intimacy of rooms and objects, and to imbue them with emotional depth through the atmosphere he created.
Fig. 1: Jean-Siméon Chardin, The Child with the Top, 1738, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Fig. 2: Édouard Vuillard, Madame Vuillard Sewing, Rue Truffaut, circa 1900, oil on canvas
Fig. 3: Édouard Vuillard, Madame Vuillard at the Table, 1896–1987, oil on canvas
Édouard VUILLARD
24.7 x 22.9 cm
Dated to circa 1895, the scene is set at 346 Rue Saint-Honoré, where Vuillard moved in with his mother in 1893, following the marriage of his sister Marie to his friend Ker-Xavier Roussel. At the time, the artist depicted interiors in which the figures stand out clearly, whilst the décor appears to detach itself from the walls and float in an almost immaterial space. A profusion of small brushstrokes unifies the surface of the painting, erasing depth and disrupting conventional proportions. The family portraits and intimate scenes he produced during the final decade of the 19th century remain today amongst his most iconic and accomplished works (ill. 2 and 3). Mostly small in scale, these domestic scenes explore the complex relationships the artist maintained with his loved ones and his family.
Madame Vuillard appears in them as both a regal matriarch and a muse.
The peaceful and mysterious atmosphere of the scene is reminiscent of the works of Vermeer, whom Vuillard had studied at length in the Louvre whilst studying at the Beaux-Arts. His journal bears witness to this admiration: a drawing from 1888 based on Vermeer and several sketches of domestic scenes, depicting women gathered around a table, already reveal his interest in the subject. Among the Old Masters whom he revered, Chardin held a particularly important place (ill. 1). Like Chardin, Vuillard knew how to capture the quiet intimacy of rooms and objects, and imbue them with emotional weight through the atmosphere he creates.
Fig. 1: Jean-Siméon Chardin, *L’enfant au toton*, 1738, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Fig. 2: Édouard Vuillard, Madame Vuillard Sewing, Rue Truffaut, circa 1900, oil on canvas
Fig. 3: Édouard Vuillard, Madame Vuillard at the Table, 1896–1987, oil on canvas
See original version (French)
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About the sale
The Louis Grandchamp des Raux Collection
Auction location
Auction time
10/24/2026 at 4:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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