Artwork
Interior with Paintings and a Pheasant
Interior with Paintings and a Pheasant is an unspecified painting by the Les Nabis artist Édouard Vuillard. It dates from 1928 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work exemplifies Vuillard’s interest in everyday domestic scenes and the subtle interplay of figures within a carefully arranged space.
The painting Interior with Paintings and a Pheasant (1928) by Édouard Vuillard portrays a domestic interior in which a pheasant, a child, a girl, Antoinette David‑Weill and her nephew Maurice Lambiotte are present, set in the house at Mareil‑le‑Guyon. The work exemplifies Vuillard’s interest in everyday domestic scenes and the subtle interplay of figures within a carefully arranged space. Its iconography centers on the gathering of family members, suggesting a private, intimate atmosphere.
The composition reflects the artist’s focus on interior décor and the presence of personal belongings, as documented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection records.
History & Provenance
The work was painted by Édouard Vuillard in 1928. It entered the market through Jos Hessel and later passed to Marcel Kapferer and Georges Renand. Kleinberger Galleries handled subsequent transactions before Robert Lehman acquired it. By 1981 it was in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains.
The work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it entered the collection through the Robert Lehman Bequest; it is inventoried as 1975.1.228. It was first publicly exhibited in 1936 under the title Intérieur avec faisan in Paris at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, where it was shown as part of a Vuillard retrospective. The painting has not been exhibited since 1936 according to available records.
Overview
Édouard Vuillard, a French painter and decorative artist, completed Interior with Paintings and a Pheasant in 1928. This oil painting captures a domestic scene featuring Antoinette David-Weill and her nephew Maurice Lambiotte within a dimly lit room in Mareil-le-Guyon. The composition also prominently includes a dead pheasant, whose vibrant plumage contrasts with the muted tones of the interior. The work reflects Vuillard's later stylistic developments after his early association with the avant-garde Nabis group.
Technique & Style
Vuillard's approach in this work demonstrates a departure from his earlier Nabis period, moving towards a more tangible realism while retaining expressive qualities. The artist applied paint with thick, visible brushstrokes, known as impasto, creating a textured surface, particularly on the dark, roughly painted walls. The overall color palette is subdued, contributing to the dim atmosphere of the room.
However, the pheasant's feathers are rendered with notable vibrancy, drawing the viewer's eye and providing a chromatic highlight amidst the muted surroundings.
Context
Before 1900, Vuillard was a key figure in Les Nabis, an avant-garde group known for its use of flattened color planes and decorative patterns, influenced by Japanese prints. After the Nabis disbanded, his artistic trajectory evolved. Interior with Paintings and a Pheasant exemplifies this later phase, where he adopted a more observational and descriptive style.
While still depicting intimate interiors, his focus shifted from abstract pattern to a more direct representation of light, form, and the tangible qualities of his subjects and surroundings.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jean-Édouard Vuillard (French:; 11 November 1868 – 21 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist, and printmaker.
