The Yellow Curtain

c. 1893

Edouard Vuillard

Artist, French, 1868 - 1940

A woman pushes aside a deep golden yellow curtain that fills three-quarters of this nearly square painting. The curtain runs on a rod parallel and close to the top of the canvas, extends off the right edge, and falls behind a bed covered in the same color. The bed is cropped by the bottom and left edges of the painting, and a brown, arched wood footboard almost reaches the right side. The woman stands on the far side of the bed, facing away from us as she pulls at the curtain with her right hand. She wears a navy-blue dress and a brown braid falls down her back. She reveals an area covered in a pink, green, and white floral pattern that seems to match the size of the curtain, at least along the left edge where it is exposed. A round mirror hangs on the floral-patterned area above a red piece of furniture, perhaps a small table or stool. The wall around the patterned area and curtain is painted bone white. A line incised in the paint running from the top left corner of the floral area to the top edge of the canvas suggests a crack in the wall. The paint is loosely applied so brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the floral pattern. The artist’s signature is painted in red in the lower left corner: "E. Vuillard."

Media Options

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On View

NGA, East Building, EU-404-C, E

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 34.7 x 38.7 cm (13 11/16 x 15 1/4 in.)
    framed: 52.7 x 58.4 x 7.3 cm (20 3/4 x 23 x 2 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.95

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Vuillard atelier; Vuillard family; possibly from whom acquired by Capt. Edward H. Molyneux [1891-1974], Paris, by 1952;[1] sold 15 August 1955 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[2] bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1]See letter dated 22 September 1999 from Guy Cogeval, in NGA curatorial files. Exhibited as part of the Molyneux collection in 1952. [2]Acquisition date of the Molyneux collection according to the Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA archives.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1952

  • French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1952, unnumbered checklist.

1961

  • French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 72, repro

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 175, repro

1986

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, 1986.

1989

  • The Intimate Interiors of Edouard Vuillard, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Phillips Collection, Washington; The Brooklyn Museum, 1989-1990, no. 46, repro.

1998

  • Il Tempo dei Nabis [The Time of the Nabis], Palazzo Corsini, Florence; The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1998, no. 9 (Florence), no. 177 (Montreal).

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 63, repro.

2003

  • Edouard Vuillard, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2003-2004, no. 94, repro.

2004

  • Gauguin and the Origins of Symbolism, Casa de Alhajas, Madrid, 2004-2005, no. 123, repro. (NGA's Gauguins, Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven and Self=Portrait Dedicated to Carrière, shown consecutively at Fundación Col. Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid).

2005

  • Le théâtre de l'Oeuvre, 1893-1900: Naissance du théâtre moderne, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2005, no. 172, repro.

2013

  • Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016, pl. 61.

2016

  • Hinter dem Vorhang: Verhullung und Enthullung seit der Renaissance, von Tizian bis Christo [Behind the Curtain: Concealment and Revelation since the Renaissance, from Titian to Christo], Museum Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf, 2016-2017, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 372, repro.

1978

  • Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 102, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 583, no. 895, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 432, repro.

2003

  • Salomon, Antoine, and Guy Cogeval. Vuillard, The Inexhaustible Glance: Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels. 3 vols. Milan and Paris, 2003: 1:no. IV-160, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left with atelier stamp: E Vuillard

Wikidata ID

Q20190398

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