Young Woman in Bed (Jeune femme au lit)

Intimate in both scale and subject matter, this work typifies the artist’s oeuvre of the 1890s. Deep in thought, the unidentified young woman projects the inner contemplation that was at the heart of the aesthetics and philosophy of French Symbolism, to which Vuillard subscribed. Vuillard’s sister Marie served as one of his most frequent subjects, and the painter is known to have painted several images of her in her sickbed in 1894, though she is not specifically identified here. The artist demonstrates his facility for rendering the pattern and texture of textiles, interspersing touches of paint with unpainted areas of his unconventional cardboard support, especially in the treatment of the figure’s peignoir. This painting also provides insight into Vuillard’s interest in spatial ambiguities, evidenced in his delineation of the corner of the room through the subtle changes in the hue of the paint and the direction of the brushwork.