Breakfast at Villerville 1910

Édouard Vuillard made this painting, Breakfast at Villerville, with oil on canvas, and it’s like stepping into a dream of domesticity. Vuillard's mark-making feels so intuitive, a process of layering and building up colour that mirrors the way we accumulate memories. The surface is alive with texture, the paint applied in these short, choppy strokes, like he’s knitting together the scene. Look at the way the blues and yellows clash and harmonize in the foreground; it’s a masterclass in controlled chaos. There's a figure draped in a blue polka-dot dress reclining to the right, almost melting into the surroundings. This figure seems to pull the whole scene into focus. Vuillard reminds me a little of Bonnard, both of them masters of capturing the intimate, everyday moments that make up a life, but Vuillard has a darker edge, a sense of unease that keeps things interesting. Ultimately, this painting is less about breakfast and more about the complex, often contradictory, emotions that fill our homes and our hearts.