
Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940) is best known for his paintings of the interiors - intimate spaces inhabited by his family and patrons. He was the founding member of the Les Nabis group, along with Pierre Bonnard, and Maurice Denis, among others, who aimed to revitalize painting. His iconic style can be characterized by the use of vibrant colors, thick outlines, flattened and distorted perspectives and shapes that communicate his feelings and ideas about the subjects. He was frequently commissioned to paint portraits, in which he portrayed his sitters in domestic settings characteristic of them, thereby extending the psychological penetration of the portrait. His involvement and interest in the theater, was undoubtedly an important stimulus for his predilection for a particular composition style and muted and mysterious light effects. His style evolved from avoidance of depth, special ambiguity, and a dense overall effect during the Nabis period to a more conventional use of perspective after the turn of the century when he became more focused on luminosity and favored the mediums of pastels and distemper to create his works.