L’élégante Au Moulin Rouge c. 1908 - 1909

Édouard Vuillard made this pastel drawing, L’élégante Au Moulin Rouge. It’s all about capturing a fleeting moment, like a snapshot from a dream. The muted palette and hazy marks give it an ephemeral quality, emphasizing artmaking as a process of capturing impressions rather than creating a perfect representation. The surface has a velvety texture from the pastel. Vuillard’s marks are light and airy, blending into one another to create soft, diffuse forms. The elegant woman in the foreground seems to emerge from the shadows, her presence both palpable and elusive. Look at the way Vuillard uses color: the woman’s form and the crowd become mere suggestions, giving the scene an air of mystery and intrigue. Vuillard reminds me of Bonnard, with that same focus on intimate, domestic scenes. He invites us to embrace ambiguity and find beauty in the fleeting moments of everyday life.