Lucy Hessel 1912

Édouard Vuillard captured Lucy Hessel in oil, creating a softly rendered portrait. Look how he's built up the painting with layers of grey, brown and flesh tones. I can imagine Vuillard making this; maybe he stepped back, squinted, and then dove back in, adding a stroke here, a dab there. There's a real tenderness in the way he models her face and the slight smile. He doesn't seem interested in a perfect likeness. It’s more about capturing a feeling, an impression of her presence. Vuillard was part of the Nabis group, and they were all about breaking away from traditional painting, exploring color and pattern in new ways. You can see that here in the way he simplifies the forms and flattens the space. Vuillard inspires me in my work as I often think about how paintings are conversations with other artists through time, and how we all keep pushing each other to see the world in new and unexpected ways.