Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940)

This work will be included in the forthcoming supplement of the catalogue critique of paintings and drawings by Édouard Vuillard being prepared by the Archives Vuillard.

‘I don’t paint portraits, I paint people in their homes’, Vuillard pointed out openly (quoted in exh. cat., Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Édouard Vuillard, p. 356).

In the present drawing, Vuillard sketched his friend Pierre Bonnard in the centre of his atelier. In this intimate scene, Bonnard is portrayed in the interior, contemplating a painting which is pinned directly to the wall. Behind him is his box of colours and in front of him one can guess the presence of his dog sitting on a couch. Being passionate about his friendships, Vuillard actively sought the company of other artists, counting, among others, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Félix Vallotton in his circle. Having known Bonnard already from their Nabi period, his friendship with the fellow artist was a close one and Vuillard regularly sought out Bonnard's advice for his artworks. When Vuillard heard of Vallotton’s death in 1925, he was devastated and it is believed that this was the reason he started to perpetuate portraits of his friends on paper and canvas. The present work precedes Vuillard’s 1930 painting Portrait de Pierre Bonnard, now in the collection of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.