Breakfast
1894
Medium
oil on cardboard
Dimensions
overall: 26.9 x 22.9 cm (10 9/16 x 9 in.) framed: 43.1 x 39.3 x 6.9 cm (16 15/16 x 15 1/2 x 2 11/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Accession Number
1970.17.97
Art Historical Context
Edouard Vuillard's *Breakfast* (1894) captures an intimate moment of everyday domestic life in oil on cardboard, a modest 26.9 x 22.9 cm panel that invites viewers into a cozy, sunlit interior. As a key figure in the Post-Impressionist group Les Nabis, Vuillard specialized in such small-scale scenes, blending reality with decorative patterns inspired by Japanese prints Symbolism. The choice of cardboard as a support allowed for his fluid, spontaneous brushwork, emphasizing texture and color over precise detail. This painting exemplifies Vuillard's fascination with bourgeois routines—here, a s...
About the Artist
Edouard Vuillard · 1868–1940
Jean-Édouard Vuillard was born on November 11, 1868, in Cuiseaux, Saône-et-Loire, France, to a retired naval captain father and seamstress mother, Marie Vuillard. After his father's early death in 1884, the family settled in Paris, where Vuillard attended the Lycée Condorcet, meeting future Nabis members like Ker-Xavier Roussel—later his brother-in-law—and Maurice Denis. He began formal training i...