The Child at the Door 1891 - 1892

Curator: This is Édouard Vuillard's "The Child at the Door," painted between 1891 and 1892. It offers a glimpse into an intimate, domestic scene. Editor: It immediately strikes me as melancholic. The muted colors and shadowy doorway evoke a sense of quiet solitude. Is that child carrying a rather large piece of paper? Curator: Indeed. Notice how Vuillard employs watercolor to create soft, diffused forms. The chromatic range, though subdued, plays with the juxtaposition of cool and warm tones, thus creating depth in this interior scene. The wallpaper is also significant. Editor: The materiality of this watercolor—its transparency and lightness—contrast starkly with the density of the paint suggesting a domestic craft perhaps relegated as woman's work against a monumental piece made by male counterparts for gallery walls. Are we really that surprised to find wallpaper? It reads like any contemporary print. Curator: I find that you raise a most interesting idea in viewing this as "woman's work." Yet I'd also urge to consider Vuillard's choice to integrate surface design so completely. Here, the pictorial field becomes almost uniform; pattern and figure become difficult to differentiate. Editor: Interesting take! Vuillard certainly had a canny understanding of domestic labor, often assigned and deemed less "important," less 'worthy' of traditional galleries and exhibition. That door feels uninviting. I wonder if that patterned wallpaper Vuillard chose for his backgrounds might've seemed progressive at that moment... like "democratization" writ large. Curator: I interpret it through an almost psychological lens: The child at the threshold becomes emblematic of nascent consciousness, stepping out into the world with apprehension, almost as if afraid to "exit stage left." Her pallid skin against the rich, dark hues create quite a study. Editor: Seeing it this way, his layering reminds me that daily life involves labor: planning meals, creating welcoming spaces, all things, "unseen." So that watercolor feels less ethereal and light as the weight it is, an insight, both beautiful and daunting!