In Front of the Mirror (recto); Reclining Male Nude (verso)

1892

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century Nude

Dominant colour

In Front of the Mirror (recto); Reclining Male Nude (verso) is a 1892 by Édouard Vuillard, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Édouard Vuillard
When & what style?: 1892 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a woman in a striped dress standing in front of a mirror, lifting her arms to fix her hair. On the back, there’s a quick sketch of a man lying down, naked. Vuillard drew this in his mother’s house, where he lived most of his life. The woman is his sister, Marie—he painted her over and over in quiet, everyday moments. The sketch on the back suggests he flipped the paper to reuse it, a habit of artists who worked fast or didn’t waste supplies. If you like this, look up more works in the subject: france.

The story of this work

Overview

During the early 1890s, Édouard Vuillard repeatedly represented his mother and older sister, Marie, in domestic settings. This drawing relates to a pastel and painting, all of which show Marie standing before a mirror, raising her arms as if to adjust her hairstyle. A charcoal study of a nude male appears on the verso, suggesting that the artist may have reused the sheet.

Did you know?

Vuillard created this portrait of his sister Marie while she was living at home and working with their mother at her corset- and dressmaking business.

Read the full account in the museum source.