De grootmoeder, portret tot op de schouders 1878 - 1940

Édouard Vuillard made this graphite drawing, called 'The Grandmother, shoulder portrait,' at an unknown date. I like how alive it feels, like Vuillard was trying to capture a fleeting expression, a momentary gesture. You know, drawing is such a direct medium, right? It's just you, the paper, and a pencil, trying to make sense of what you see. And here, with these tentative lines, he’s really got something. I imagine him sitting close to his grandmother, his eyes darting back and forth between her face and the page, trying to find the right marks to convey her presence. Look at the way he's rendered her face – a web of delicate lines that suggest wrinkles, age, and character. The lines around her eyes seem to tell a story, and I wonder what she was thinking at that moment? Vuillard isn’t just making a likeness, he’s showing us something deeper, something about the passage of time and the beauty of aging.