On the Beach
c. 1907
Medium
glue on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 200 x 165 cm (78 3/4 x 64 15/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
1985.64.42
Art Historical Context
Édouard Vuillard's *On the Beach* (c. 1907) captures a luminous moment of leisure along the French coast, rendered in an innovative glue on canvas medium that lends a matte, fresco-like texture to its expansive surface (200 x 165 cm). A key figure in the Post-Impressionist group Les Nabis, Vuillard was renowned for his intimate, pattern-rich depictions of everyday life, blending Japanese print influences with vibrant color and flattened perspective. This large-scale work reflects his mature style, where decorative motifs and dappled light evoke the sensory pleasures of modern recreation during...
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...