Artwork
Jos and Lucie Hessel in the Small Salon, Rue de Rivoli
Jos and Lucie Hessel in the Small Salon, Rue de Rivoli is an unspecified painting by the Post-Impressionist artist Édouard Vuillard. It dates from 1900 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
According to the sources, the composition includes the couple alongside a man and a woman, emphasizing a domestic scene within a small salon on Rue de Rivoli.
The painting titled Jos and Lucie Hessel in the Small Salon, Rue de Rivoli, created by Édouard Vuillard in 1900, portrays the married couple Lucie and Jos Hessel seated in a modest Parisian interior. According to the sources, the composition includes the couple alongside a man and a woman, emphasizing a domestic scene within a small salon on Rue de Rivoli. The work reflects the intimate bourgeois environment of the period, using typical furnishings and decorative details to suggest a private gathering space.
As documented, the painting measures 36.8 × 56.8 cm and is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, having passed through the ownership of Galerie Jacques Dubourg, M. Knoedler & Co., and Sarah Campbell Blaffer.
History & Provenance
Édouard Vuillard executed the painting Jos and Lucie Hessel in the Small Salon, Rue de Rivoli in 1900. The work depicts the art dealers Jos and Lucie Hessel. Following its creation, the painting entered a chain of private and commercial ownership that included the Galerie Jacques Dubourg and the firm M. Knoedler & Co.
It was subsequently held in the collection of Sarah Campbell Blaffer before eventually becoming part of the holdings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Jos and Lucie Hessel in the Small Salon, Rue de Rivoli, painted by Édouard Vuillard in 1900, is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work's documented provenance traces ownership through Galerie Jacques Dubourg, M. Knoedler & Co., and Sarah Campbell Blaffer before its accession by the museum. No specific accession number is recorded in the available sources, and no exhibition history beyond its current institutional placement is documented.
Legacy
The painting, created in 1900, portrays Lucie and Jos Hessel within a modest interior on Rue de Rivoli, reflecting Vuillard’s focus on domestic spaces. The work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where its display has contributed to ongoing scholarly discussion of Vuillard’s role in early 20th‑century French painting. Its dimensions (36.8 × 56.8 cm) and provenance through Galerie Jacques Dubourg and M. Knoedler & Co. illustrate its circulation among collectors, reinforcing its reputation in the history of modern art.
Overview
Édouard Vuillard's 1900 painting, Jos and Lucie Hessel in the Small Salon, Rue de Rivoli, captures an intimate domestic moment. This post-impressionist work portrays the couple within their private interior, reflecting the artist's characteristic focus on everyday life. The canvas is part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Technique & Style
This work exemplifies Vuillard's engagement with post-impressionist aesthetics, particularly his use of flattened color planes and decorative patterns. These stylistic choices, influenced by Japanese prints, were central to his period with the avant-garde group Les Nabis, which concluded around the time this painting was created. The composition emphasizes surface design and a less illusionistic rendering of space.
Context
Created in 1900, this painting stands at a pivotal moment in Vuillard's career. It was produced as the Symbolist-leaning Les Nabis group, with whom he had been associated for nearly a decade, began to dissolve. While Vuillard would later move towards a more naturalistic style, Jos and Lucie Hessel still reflects the decorative and pattern-focused approach characteristic of his earlier Nabis period.
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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.
