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Lot Essay
La chambre rose is an exquisite large-scale pastel executed in 1914. This acutely intimate interior scene, with its subtle characterization and carefully-observed details, depicts a young woman rising from her bed within the broad view of her bedroom. The naturalistic pose of Vuillard's young female protagonist, with her hair loose, viewed from a quiet distance, underscores the sense of intimisme which had long been central to his oeuvre. As he said of his painting: '''I don't paint portraits, I paint people in their homes"' (Vuillard quoted in J. Warnod, Vuillard, New York, 1989, p. 47).
In La chambre rose Vuillard also retains many characteristics of his Nabi production, as the configuration of figure within interior provides the viewer's eye with a sense of dynamic circular motion anchored around the central table, with bright pink blotter which has been pushed aside to make way for the breakfast tray. In the lower left foreground, the pink and white striped upholstery of the chair provides the familiar sense of patterning we well associate with Vuillard’s work, and is further enhanced in the subtle complementary palette of the wall paper, set against a vase holding a delicate tall plant, executed in vibrant marks of turquoise and green, perched on the corner of the far-right chest of drawers. The choice of scale, orientation and arrangement of this magnificent pastel lends an even greater sense of absorbing, warm intimisme. Depth and perspective is masterfully handled, at once drawing the viewer into an intriguingly quiet domestic scene, immersing us not just physically but also emotionally and psychologically in a web of narrative, constructed through the thoughtful depictions and placement of each object, their relationship with one another, and the young woman they belong to. As Elizabeth Easton has concluded, 'The interior was for Vuillard a potential metaphor for himself - an inner space, self-controlled and cut off from the world, but rife with possibilities' (The Intimate Interiors of Edouard Vuillard, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1989, p. 4).
In La chambre rose Vuillard also retains many characteristics of his Nabi production, as the configuration of figure within interior provides the viewer's eye with a sense of dynamic circular motion anchored around the central table, with bright pink blotter which has been pushed aside to make way for the breakfast tray. In the lower left foreground, the pink and white striped upholstery of the chair provides the familiar sense of patterning we well associate with Vuillard’s work, and is further enhanced in the subtle complementary palette of the wall paper, set against a vase holding a delicate tall plant, executed in vibrant marks of turquoise and green, perched on the corner of the far-right chest of drawers. The choice of scale, orientation and arrangement of this magnificent pastel lends an even greater sense of absorbing, warm intimisme. Depth and perspective is masterfully handled, at once drawing the viewer into an intriguingly quiet domestic scene, immersing us not just physically but also emotionally and psychologically in a web of narrative, constructed through the thoughtful depictions and placement of each object, their relationship with one another, and the young woman they belong to. As Elizabeth Easton has concluded, 'The interior was for Vuillard a potential metaphor for himself - an inner space, self-controlled and cut off from the world, but rife with possibilities' (The Intimate Interiors of Edouard Vuillard, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1989, p. 4).