Édouard Vuillard belonged to a quasi-mystical group of young artists that arose about 1890 and called themselves Les Nabis (after the Hebrew word for prophet). The Nabis rejected impressionism and considered simple transcription of the appearance of the natural world unthinking and unartistic. Woman in a Striped Dress is one of five works Vuillard painted in 1895 for Thadée Natanson and his wife Misia Godebska. The introspective woman arranging flowers here may represent the red-haired Misia, whom Vuillard greatly admired.