Gaby in a Chaise Longue 1906

Jacques Villon made this colour etching, *Gaby in a Chaise Longue*, and it's like he’s inviting us into a fleeting moment. The way the colours softly bleed into each other makes it seem like a memory, hazy and dreamlike. Look at the chaise longue itself, it's all ochre and gold, built up through these really confident, expressive strokes. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the plate. The blue that swathes Gaby is thin, watery and transparent allowing areas of the paper beneath to shimmer through. Where the etching is more heavily inked, around Gaby's face, the colour becomes a darker, richer blue. See how this draws your eye to her? It’s like Villon is using colour not just to describe, but to direct our gaze, making us focus on certain aspects of the composition. This work, with its intimate portrayal of modern life, reminds me of other artists like Édouard Vuillard, who were also capturing these everyday moments. But in Villon's hands, it’s less about observation and more about evocation, using colour and line to create a mood, a feeling, rather than a perfect representation.