Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940)
Madame Arthur Fontaine (Marie Escudier Fontaine) in a Pink Shawl
INV-5997
Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940)c. 1904-05
Madame Arthur Fontaine (Marie Escudier Fontaine) in a Pink Shawl
Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940) →20th CenturyPost-Impressionismpaintingpaint
Date
c. 1904-05
Medium
Gouache and oil on cardboard mounted on cardboard
Dimensions
50.2 × 43.8 cm (19 3/4 × 17 1/4 in.); Framed: 69.9 × 63.5 × 11.5 cm (27 1/2 × 25 × 4 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Marie Escudier Fontaine appears to be enjoying a quiet moment at home in this portrait, one of many that Edouard Vuillard painted of her. Vuillard emphasized the intimacy of the scene through his compression of space, achieved by the unusual viewpoint from above and behind, and through his use of flat patches of color and pattern. The artist first developed a friendship with Marie and her husband Arthur Fontaine, and maintained his close relationship with Marie following her divorce from Fontaine in 1905. A pianist herself, she socialized within a circle of prominent artists, musicians, writers, and patrons, including Post-Impressionists like Vuillard.
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