Edouard Vuillard

French painter and printmaker Edouard Vuillard was a founding member of the Symbolist group Les Nabis, a movement based in spirituality that also included artists such as Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis. Derived from the Hebrew and Arabic word for “prophet,” the group saw the role of the artist as that of the “seer,” channeling the metaphysical elements of the universe through philosophical art making. Vuillard’s work, like many of those involved in Nabis, was heavily influenced by pattern and distortion, highlighting the symbolic element of domestic scenes and landscapes. Dizzying colored dots and stripes are found often in Vuillard’s paintings, the clothing of his subjects frequently blending in with the surrounding interior space.

Vuillard first began exhibiting in Paris around the turn of the century at venues like Salon des Indépendants and Salon d'Automne. He often too commissions for interior spaces including private spaces for Alexandre Natanson, Claude Anet, and public works such as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Palais de Chaillot, Palais des Nations in Geneva and the Le Grand Teddy café paintings. His work went on to influence a generation of artists including Henri Matisse, and in 1937 he was elected to the prestigious Institut de France. He died in La Baule, France in 1940.