By the Worktable 1905

Édouard Vuillard coaxed this scene into being with oil paint, pulling it out of thin air. The domestic interior swims into focus like a half-remembered dream. I can imagine Vuillard, years ago, working in his studio, trying to capture the fleeting feeling of a moment – the quiet concentration of figures gathered around a table. He probably layered the paint, thin washes over thicker strokes, building up the image bit by bit. The wallpaper alone, a field of muted gold and green teardrops, must have taken time. I love the way Vuillard allows the painting to hover between representation and abstraction. The faces are just smudges of color, but somehow, they convey so much. It's like he's inviting us to fill in the blanks, to project our own memories and experiences onto the scene. He was surely looking at other artists too. Bonnard, maybe? There's a similar intimacy, a sense of quiet observation. Ultimately, painting is a conversation across time, a back-and-forth between artists. The work feels incomplete, but it's that openness that makes it so alive.