mheu, Historical Museum of the Urban Environment

The artist

Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) was born into a Paris family of modest means. After studying at Académie Julian, he entered the Paris School of Fine Arts, spurning the military future planned by his family for a career in art. In the late 1880s, Vuillard and other young artists such as Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and a bit later Félix Vallotton created a group called Les Nabis. Inspired by Gauguin, these "prophets" as they called themselves, abandoned impressionist technique and subjects to paint intimist, even symbolist pictures. Vuillard's works, like those of the other Nabis, featured flat color techniques and simplified motifs, influenced by Japanese prints. The works were a crossover between applied arts and painting. Edouard Vuillard, for example, produced theater decors, posters and decorative panels.