Woman with a Hat 1901

Édouard Vuillard painted this Woman with a Hat, probably in oil on canvas, but really it could be anything because everything kind of melts together. Vuillard had a way with domestic scenes, and here he’s got this woman in her finery, but it’s all soft edges and fuzzy vision. Look at how he builds up the hat, it’s like dabs of cream, almost sculptural. And the way the yellow bleeds into her dress, into the background – it’s like color as atmosphere. There is a real intimacy here, Vuillard’s known for this. It feels as though we’re peering into a private moment, catching a glimpse of something fleeting. I see echoes of artists like Bonnard in Vuillard's work, and also maybe a hint of what was to come with someone like Gerhard Richter, artists who embrace the blur, who find beauty in the indistinct. The beauty here is that Vuillard's work embraces uncertainty. It is more about feeling than knowing.