Édouard Vuillard

Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired directly from the artist in 1909)
Alex Reid, Glasgow
Alexander Duncan, Carnoustie, United Kingdom
Arthur Tooth & Sons, Ltd., London
Georges Bernheim, Paris (acquired by 1929)
Claudia de Maistre, Paris
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Gilman, New York (acquired by 1954)
Gilman Foundation, New York (a gift from the above in 1982 and sold: Christie's, New York, May 8, 2000, lot 37)
Giorgio Armani, New York
Acquired from the above

Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1909
New York, Museum of Modern Art & Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Édouard Vuillard, 1954 (titled Figures in an Interior)
Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Museum, June-September 1974 (on loan)

Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, Le Regard innombrable, Catalogue critique des peintures et pastels, vol. II, Paris, 2003, no. VIII-296, illustrated in color p. 966

Peinture à la colle on paper laid down on card. There appear to be no traces of retouching visible under UV light. Some frame rubbing with associated pigment and paper losses in places across the extreme edges due to framing. Some spots of foxing to the sheet visible on the lower right edge. Some pigment losses to the thickly painted areas, predominantly in the light green blanket, in some of the blue pigments along the upper edge. A pin sized paper loss to the center of the brown headboard, with some craquelure in places. This work is in overall good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Painted in 1909, Les Enfants is a striking example of Édouard Vuillard’s life-long interest in domestic interiors. This scintillating work, bursting with color and vibrant brushstrokes depicts Misia (Sert) Natanson, wife of Thadée Natanson, Vuillard’s first and most important patron and the publisher of La Revue blanche, the most noted avant-garde French periodical in the 1890s. The present work is one of joyful intimacy depicting Misia reclining in bed, her bust almost immersed in the whiteness of the sheets, this lighter pigment is in stark contrast to the black-clad little Denise and her sister Annette, both seated, the daughters of Alfred Natanson, younger brother to Thadée. The viewer is suddenly immersed in a scene of quiet contemplation, as Kimberly Jones notes: "Vuillard's women are perpetually absorbed in their occupations and...remain totally unconscious of the presence of the artist and the gaze of the viewer" (Guy Cogeval, Édouard Vuillard (exhibition catalogue), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, 2003, p. 131).

With his prized Kodak at hand, an invention of the 1880s, Vuillard relentlessly employed the avant-gardiste medium of photography to seize domestic scenes and images of his friends and family from the most diverse and unexpected angles. Composition was one of the artist’s major concerns and—along with the use of tonal gradation—allowed him to create novel ways to reinterpret familiar scenes. Les Enfants is a marvelous and sophisticated example of the artist’s preoccupation with how proportion and perspective can inform the viewer’s understanding of an image. Vuillard blurs the boundaries of background and foreground to create a unique and immediate impression in which pattern blends the many elements into a dialogue of dazzling color and light.