Lot Essay
The painter Ker Xavier Roussel was doubly associated with Vuillard as his lifelong friend and brother-in-law (he married Marie Vuillard in 1893). He was also a prominent member of the Nabis.
The present work was most likely painted at L'Etang-la-Ville in the village where Ker-Xavier Roussel first rented a house in 1899.
The parallels between this landscape and Vuillard's mature interiors of the same period are fascinating: the rich 'éclatant' colours of Parisian apartments are replaced by an equally rich but subtler range of colours from nature, while the swirling patterns of textiles and furniture are replaced by the more delicate patterns of trees and foliage.
To be included in the forthcoming Vuillard Catalogue Raisonné being prepared by Antoine Salomon and Annette Leduc Beaulieu from the records and under the responsibility of Antoine Salomon.
The present work was most likely painted at L'Etang-la-Ville in the village where Ker-Xavier Roussel first rented a house in 1899.
The parallels between this landscape and Vuillard's mature interiors of the same period are fascinating: the rich 'éclatant' colours of Parisian apartments are replaced by an equally rich but subtler range of colours from nature, while the swirling patterns of textiles and furniture are replaced by the more delicate patterns of trees and foliage.
To be included in the forthcoming Vuillard Catalogue Raisonné being prepared by Antoine Salomon and Annette Leduc Beaulieu from the records and under the responsibility of Antoine Salomon.