Edouard Vuillard

Edouard Vuillard – a decorative artist and paintmaker

Edouard Vuillard, a french painter, and printmaker, born on 11 November 1868, spent all his youth traveling around. His father was an army officer, so they had to move from place to place. In 1878, his family moved to Paris. After ten years, his father died as an army officer. Vuillard got a scholarship to continue his studies. As he was fond of painting, he refused to work as an army officer and joined Roussel at the painter Diogene Maillart to get artistic training. From 1886-1888, he studied at the Academie Julian.

The artist who played with colors

 He finally passed the entrance exam after attempting three times for the Ecole des beaux-arts. He was also fond of traveling, so he has traveled to many places like Venice, Florence, Spain, Normandy, and London. He first exhibited at the Salon des independents of 1901. In his paintings and decorative pieces, Vuillard showcases mostly interiors, gardens, and streets. His paintings are always marked by gentle humor; they are executed in the delicate range of soft, blurred colors characteristic of his art. He was living with his mother, who was a dressmaker, until the age of sixty. That is why Vuillard was very familiar with interior and domestic spaces. Many of his art reflected this influence, largely decorative and often depicting very complex patterns. He died on 21 June 1940.

Important artworks

• The Green Interior or Figure in front of a Window with Drawn Curtains (1891)
• Self Portrait (1892)
• Woman Sweeping (1892)
• Mother and Sister of the Artist (1893)
• The Seamstress (1893)
• The Yellow Curtain (1893)
• Married Life (1894)
• Under the Trees (1894)
• Chestnut Trees, a Cartoon for a Tiffany Stained-Glass Window (1894–95)
• At the Café (c.1897–1899), Cleveland Museum of Art
• Woman in Blue With Child (1899) 
• At the Revue Blanche 
• Le Déjeuner à (1902)
• Café Wepler (1908)
• Le Grand Teddy (1918)
• Garden at Vaucresson (1920)
• André Bénac (1936), Cleveland Museum of Art