Édouard Vuillard

Studio of the artist
Collection de Monsieur et Madame Dardari (and sold: Drouot-Montaigne, Paris, June 8, 2000, lot 3)
Acquired in 2003

Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, The Inexhaustible Glance, Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels, vol. I, Paris, 2003, no. V-78, illustrated p. 417

The board is stable and the panel is sound and cradled. There appear to be no signs of retouching visible under UV light. This work is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Around the time he painted Au Buffet, Vuillard began to work in an almost Fauve-like palette with large unmodulated color blocks, revealing the critical influence of Paul Gauguin and Japanese prints. He increasingly experimented with abstraction and powerful, emotionally evocative color bearing semblance to the flat planes of  Henri Matisse and the Fauves. In this composition we see abstract accumulations of intense, vibrant and also somber colors, seen through the interaction of the neon yellow-green in the background in contrast to the pervasive use of sections of black pigment used to describe the two figures. Vuillard has emphasized the deliberate flatness, varying silhouette-type forms and colors.

In the present work, Vuillard has created a world in which no outside disturbances seem to penetrate the peaceful continuity of an intimate indoor scene. He has painted this provocative interior scene with a sense of poetic stillness that renders the viewer a willing voyeur. As Kimberly Jones observed, "These domestic interiors are not intended as portraits, nor are they genre paintings in the true sense of the word. They are evocations of the private world of the artist's personal experience" (Guy Cogeval, Édouard Vuillard, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts & The National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2003, p. 131).