Madame Vuillard at Table 1900

Édouard Vuillard captured his mother at table in this intimate painting made with oil on cardboard. The table setting, adorned with floral motifs, immediately draws the eye, echoing a long tradition where flowers symbolize beauty and the fleeting nature of life. One might recall the vanitas paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, where flowers served as potent reminders of mortality. Here, however, the flowers seem less a memento mori and more an embrace of domesticity and the ephemeral pleasures of daily life. These motifs find echoes in Japanese art, where the arrangement of flowers, ikebana, is imbued with profound spiritual meaning. Consider how these symbols resonate with our own subconscious associations. Through art, we see the cyclical progression of symbols, their meanings shifting and resurfacing across time.