At the Piano 1884

Édouard Vuillard made this painting, “At the Piano,” sometime during his career as a French painter, printmaker, and stage designer. Vuillard was closely associated with the Nabis, a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists who believed that art should express the artist's emotions and perceptions rather than simply imitate nature. Here, the intimacy of a domestic scene is captured, focusing on a woman seated at a piano, her form rendered with soft, muted colors and a gentle play of light. In the late 19th century, the ability to play the piano was a signifier of middle-class status and education, especially for women. This image, however, disrupts any simple reading of bourgeois life, offering a glimpse into the interior lives of women, whose identities are often bound to domesticity and artistic expression. Vuillard here acknowledges the complexities of such a life. The scene is imbued with a sense of quietude, which leaves us to ponder the interplay between identity, environment, and artistic expression.