Half-figure of a seated woman 1911

Édouard Vuillard made this small painting of a seated woman with black crayon and a touch of pink. It’s all hatched lines, an all-over busyness, with the figure emerging from the background. I love the way the shawl, or whatever it is she’s wearing, comes forward with those rouge-y pink stripes. You can imagine Vuillard rubbing and smearing the crayon into the paper. Did he work on this on a table? Or hold it in his hand? I find myself thinking about the intimacy of it. Vuillard was part of the Post-Impressionist group called the Nabis, who explored the decorative potential of painting. It’s so interesting to see how he’s playing with pattern here, flattening the space and making the figure almost dissolve into the background. This piece reminds us that the act of painting is really a conversation, an exchange of ideas across time. It’s about embracing ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings, and trusting that new meanings will emerge.