23 March 2027 — 25 July 2027

Vuillard: Intimate Theaters

The innovative, intimate work of Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940), a key figure of the Nabi movement, continues to captivate and intrigue. With the first exhibition devoted to Vuillard in France in almost 25 years, the Musée d’Orsay explores a previously unexamined subject: the artist’s fascination with the theatre, which nourished and stimulated his art for more than five decades, from the early 1890s to the late 1930s. Vuillard enjoyed cabarets and café-concerts as much as classical tragedy, and was also a regular at the alternative theatres where cutting-edge Symbolist plays were staged in the 1890s. A devoted spectator in every kind of theatre, he was also an “actor” within them, closely involved in these progressive circles. Working behind the scenes, he designed programmes and sets for their productions, drawing from this new dramaturgy the motifs, props and intense atmosphere of his own paintings: intimate interiors composed like stage sets. At ease in the ever-changing world of actors, critics and playwrights, Vuillard spent his life painting portraits of these larger-than-life personalities – including, in the early 20th century, the figures of boulevard theatre. He also continued to devote himself to decoration, in which he excelled, carrying out major commissions on the theme of theatre for the interiors of two great Parisian playhouses. These murals – mises en abyme of an enduring passion for the stage and performance – were high points of a career constantly permeated and radically renewed by this other art form. Curated by Anne Robbins, Curator of Paintings, Musée d’Orsay; Mathias Chivot, Director of the Vuillard Archives; and Elsa Smithgall, Chief Curator, The Phillips Collection, Washington.

Musée d'Orsay