Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Breakfast by the Window

Breakfast by the Window:


is a painting from about 1892 by Edouard Vuillard (11/11/1868-6/21/1940). He said, "To say that a thing is beautiful is simply an act of faith, not a measurement on some kind of scale," and, "I don't paint portraits. I paint people at home."

There was an exhibit of his work at The Jewish Museum in 2012, which described him as "the twentieth-century master whose unique blend of tradition and modernity evokes the refined and sophisticated society of his patrons, many of whom were Jewish." In its coverage of the exhibition held at the National Gallery of Art, NPR notes that Vuillard created more than 3,000 paintings. In an article from 2012, NPR says, "Vuillard was part of a group of young post-Impressionist artists who called themselves Les Nabis — stemming from the word navi, which means "prophet" in Hebrew." Though not Jewish, he had many Jewish patrons, and the later NPR article mentions that his death came a week after the German occupation of France. NPR closes by saying,
By the time Vuillard died in 1940, Abstractionism was on the rise. Today, though, in our jagged, fragmented times, the cozy domestic worlds on Vuillard's canvases are a refuge from the jumble. His rooms aren't noisy, they're safe — for a while, anyway. Many of his wealthy Jewish patrons would die at the hands of the Germans. Their solid rooms would soon be empty. But Vuillard froze them in time..."
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art has a painting by him. Swiss Landscape (1900):


You can view more of Vuillard's work at WikiArt.

This video is a 15 minute, staff-led overview of Vuillard's life and times and a more in-depth view of one of his paintings in the San Diego Art Museum:


I'm linking to T is for Tuesday at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog, where we share a weekly drink-related post. See the cup on the table in the painting at the top of this post?




14 comments:

  1. Thanks for intruducing this artist. I am saving his Swiss landscape for further inspection - this is really someone who knew his greens!

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  2. Thank you for sharing this painting and this artist. I noticed he had a love of tables, including the one you shared with us. It's always fun to see what you will discover while reading or viewing a video. This is no exception.

    Thanks for sharing this beautiful painting and artist with us for T this Tuesday.

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  3. You had me at "Breakfast at the Window"!
    Thank you for sharing another great artist and his work...
    I am off to view the video.
    Happy T Day and thank you for your visit to my Magpie's Nest and nice comment.
    I find pressing flowers such fun!
    oxo

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  4. Happy T day and thank you for introducing me to another great artist!

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  5. Very interesting. I really like that first painting.
    Happy T day!

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  6. I had not heard of Vuillard before. Thanks for introducing me to him. It's so sad that man of his patrons died in the Holocaust. But at least they "live on," so to speak, in his paintings.

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  7. Happy "T" Day and thanks again for enlightening me with the beautiful art of Vuillard. It's always good to learn something new ♥

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  8. Really enjoyed the video.

    Darla

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  9. I know very little about art so this was very interesting and I enjoyed the video, too. :)
    Happy T-Day! :)

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  10. Thanks for sharing that Divers! Love how you educate me. :) Happy Tday! Hugs! deb

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  11. Very interesting post, I am always learning something new when I visit on T-day.
    Vuillard had an interesting technique with the glue and the pigment. Next time I'm in San Diego I am going to try and get to the gallery and see this painting.....Thanks for sharing and Thanks for the T-day visit.

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  12. I think I saw some of his paintings when I was a tween and my father was stationed in Belgium (his hobby was traveling), but I didn't learn as much as I dd in your post : ). Thanks for sharing!

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  13. I had never heard of Vuillard so enjoyed your post and the video! A very belated happy T day to you! Chrisx

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  14. What a precious post!Thanks for presenting the artist!Sorry for the belated T day!

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