Vuillard's Veiled Symbolism

The subjects of Edouard Vuillard’s paintings and sketches appear straightforward and simple on the surface. This is not the case with most of his portrait work and many of his interior and still life paintings, however. They appear simple yet very detailed and naturalistic. If, however you look more deeply into Vuillard’s works and read more about his life, it becomes apparent that this often quiet and private man is not so straightforward and simple a person as it seems he would be. He often took those every-day, insignificant objects to reveal something about the subject’s character in his paintings.

Vuillard creates a depth in his works that makes the viewer linger over them and makes them contemplate what they are looking at. He often uses bright colours and swirling brushstrokes to create an energy in his paintings that initially arrests viewers’ attention, but it is his use of symbolism that keeps the viewer’s interest. Though Vuillard uses symbolism most often in his portraiture, he does also use it, though sometimes more subtly, in his interior and still life works. This exhibition will examine Vuillard’s use of symbolism in different types of his works throughout his career. It also seeks to create an awareness of the true depth of Vuillard’s seemingly simple and straightforward works.

                           Edouard Vuillard, Le déjeuner, 1903, oil on cardboard; .58m x .6m,

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France: RF 1977-363

Many of Vuillard’s portraits have the subject doing in settings that they would be in on a typical day. In this painting, the subject is Vuillard’s mother and it shows her sitting at their breakfast table appearing to be sewing. Both Vuillard’s mother and his sister were seamstresses and had their own shop where Vuillard himself worked until he went to art school. Through the use of warm colours and the action of his mother sewing over breakfast, Vuillard’s painting conveys a sense of comfort and routine to the viewer. You can tell that this would’ve been a scene that Vuillard would have seen nearly every day. There is a peace and calm about the work that reminds the viewer of the ideals of family relationship and gives a clear sense of the loving relationship between mother and son.    

Edouard Vuillard, La salle à manger rouge entre, c. 1910-11, oil on canvas;

.5m x .5m, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France: RF 1977 375, AM 2373

Vuillard uses vibrant colours as well as those swirling, blending brushstrokes typical of his paintings after his 19^th century works to bring the viewer a sense of the energy in this scene. The light in this painting along with the open doors and the right-hand subject reading the newspaper give the viewer the impression that this is a breakfast scene. The newspaper may at first seem insignificant, but it tells you something about its reader. Turned slightly away from his companion, he appears to be casually but intently focused on his reading. There is a sense of calm and quiet about him. His companion, with their head bowed could also be reading something and they also give a sense of morning peace to the scene. What first appears to be an energetic painting turns out to be a peaceful scene imbued with the energy of a new day by the bright red paint.

Edouard Vuillard, La bibliothèque, 1911, tempera on canvas;

4m x 3m, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France: RF 1977 368, AM 2026

The scene that Vuillard paints is of a party of people in a library socializing. The presence of a tea or coffee service and the young girl seem to indicate that it is late afternoon, near teatime. In the early 1900s, the girl would not be present if it were after dinner. Everything in this room points to the wealth of the upper-middleclass people depicted; from the ornamental carving near the ceiling and the large painting, to the many books and the silver tea set, as well as the opulent rugs. This wealth seems to be contrasted with the painting of the temptation of Adam and Eve. That painting seems to caution the viewer against the temptations and fleetingness of wealth. This caution is at odds with the overall pleasantness and relaxed atmosphere created by the figures in conversation.

Edouard Vuillard, Le docteur Georges Viau dans son cabinet dentaire, 1914, Painting with glue heightened pastel on canvas; 1.077m x 1.375m,

Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France: RF 1977 396, AM 3363

Vuillard did quite a few paintings of people while they were at work. In this case, he is painting a dentist in his surgery. The patient in the chair appears to be a middleclass woman. This and the appearance of the room would indicate that the dentist himself is also a member of the middleclass. There are two paintings on the walls as well as the vase of flowers and what appears to be a coffee pot in the right side of the composition. These give us more of a glimpse into the character of the dentist as a man and not just as his profession. These decorations show that this man does not want to work in a cold, sterile medical office, but wants himself and his clients to be comfortable. The room gives off a warmth and a friendliness that the viewer cannot help but pass onto the doctor towards his patients.    

Edouard Vuillard, Bouquet de soucis sur la cheminée, c. 1930, pastel on beige paper;

.257m x .326m, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France: RF 36819

This work shows a mantelpiece with a mirror, a statuette, and a glass vase with a bouquet of vibrant flowers. The statuette on the mantelpiece is depicted using muted colours that are shades of grey and brown. The statuette is a bust and is painted in a fairly stylized and indistinct style that makes it difficult to decipher whether the subjects is male or female. The flowers, on the other hand are painted clearly and in very bright colours so that you can even tell some of the types of flowers that are included in the bouquet. You can see partial reflections of these objects in the mirror. The contrast between the bust and the flowers seems to echo the contrast between what is merely the representation of life, and what is actually alive. The viewer also recognizes the irony of the enduring quality of the bust and the fleeting life and vibrancy of the cut flowers.    

Edouard Vuillard, Interior with Paintings and a Pheasant, c. 1926-28, tempera and pastel on canvas, 33 1/4in. x 41 1/4in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 48.162.4

Vuillard did not paint many works that included game as a subject. This work is one of only two that he did. It shows a pheasant that one of his friends shot in front of a painting of two young children playing in the garden and a sketch of that painting in the background. Around the time that this work was painted (in 1928) Vuillard’s mother passed away after a long illness. The juxtaposition of the death depicted by the pheasant and the energy and life that the children represent could represent the way that Vuillard was dealing with the loss of his mother.