Child Wearing a Red Scarf c. 1891

Édouard Vuillard painted this oil on cardboard, called Child Wearing a Red Scarf, sometime during his career in France. Vuillard and other artists in his circle, such as Pierre Bonnard, were known as the ‘Intimists’ because they often depicted quiet, domestic scenes from bourgeois Parisian life. Here, Vuillard presents a cropped view of a child with an adult, perhaps in a park or public garden. The painting creates meaning through its muted color palette, loose brushstrokes and focus on the fleeting moment. It may seem like a simple snapshot, yet it’s important to remember that Vuillard and his fellow Intimists were exhibiting their work in galleries at a time of rapid social and political change in France. They were reacting against what they saw as the overly academic, moralizing style of the art establishment and developing their own more subjective and personal modes of expression. To fully understand Vuillard’s art, we might consult exhibition reviews from the period, the artist’s diaries, and studies of French social history. These sources can help us understand the role of art and the artist in French society at the turn of the 20th century.