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A beautiful building housing one of the UK's finest collections of fine and decorative art.
French Impressionists
An exhibition being held at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, 20 February 2009 - 31 May 2009
© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2009.
Zoom into this painting for more detail
Vuillard once claimed, "I do not paint portraits, I paint people in their homes."
Lucie Hessel was a great friend of Vuillard. She was also the wife of the artist's picture dealer. Here she poses relaxed and smiling in her apartment.
The walls are adorned with paintings. Her face, though cast in shadow, captures her mood. Vuillard's dry brushstrokes and scratching into the cardboard surface add to the physical modelling of the figure. Vuillard, a Post-Impressionist, was influenced by the Impressionists' interest in colour harmonies
This painting is part of the Walker Art Gallery's permanent collection and was purchased in 1966 with the help of the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.
Read more about this painting on the Walker Art Gallery website.