Post-Impressionism1894
Public Gardens
Édouard Vuillard
Curator's Eye
"The use of distemper (glue-based paint) on unprimed canvas gives the work a unique matte and velvety appearance, reminiscent of frescoes. This technique allowed Vuillard to integrate the work into the wall rather than treating it as an isolated painting."
A monumental commission for Alexandre Natanson's salon, this series of nine panels revolutionized modern decor. Vuillard merges the observation of Parisian daily life in the Tuileries with an aesthetic inspired by medieval tapestries and Japanese prints.
Analysis
The Public Gardens represent the height of Vuillard's Nabi period. In 1894, Alexandre Natanson, director of La Revue Blanche, commissioned the painter to decorate his private mansion on Avenue du Bois de Boulogne. Vuillard chose a then very fashionable theme: life in Parisian parks, specifically the Tuileries Garden. Analysis of these panels reveals a desire to break with Impressionist naturalism in favor of a synthetic and decorative vision, where figures of children and nannies become patterns integrated into nature.
The project is part of a redefinition of the role of art in the domestic space. For the Nabis, there was no distinction between "major arts" and "minor arts". By transforming a salon into an imaginary extension of public gardens, Vuillard creates continuity between the bourgeois interior and the urban exterior. Modernity here lies in the refusal of anecdote: although the scenes are drawn from real life, they are treated with a poetic distance that transforms them into archetypes of urban serenity.
The influence of medieval "mille-fleurs" tapestries is evident. As in "The Lady and the Unicorn", Vuillard saturates the space with floral patterns and touches of color that eliminate traditional atmospheric depth. Each panel functions autonomously while participating in a global harmony. This approach foreshadows Matisse's research on decoration and Monet's for the Water Lilies, where the work tends to totally envelop the viewer.
The artist also explores the psychology of intimacy in public space. Vuillard, often nicknamed the "intimist," transposes his favorite themes (women, textiles, patterns) into the garden. The silhouettes are not portraits, but silent presences that seem absorbed by the decor. This fusion between human and plant creates an atmosphere of soft melancholy, characteristic of the turn of the century.
Finally, technical analysis shows the importance of matteness. Unlike oil, distemper does not shine, avoiding unwanted reflections in an interior lit by candles or gas. This technical constraint becomes an aesthetic asset, allowing Vuillard to play with muted tones, ochres, and dull greens that lend the series a timeless nobility, far from the sometimes artificial brilliance of contemporary salon painting.
The first great secret lies in the original support and layout. Although we see these panels in museums today, they were designed to be embedded in the woodwork of Natanson's salon. The artist had to deal with the room's architecture, including doors and corners, which explains the unusual and very vertical format of some panels. When the mansion was sold, the panels were removed, losing their original spatial context.
A major technical secret is the use of rabbit-skin glue paint, an archaic method. Vuillard boiled pieces of rabbit skin to obtain a glue that he mixed with dry pigments. This mixture had to be kept warm on a stove while he painted. If the glue cooled, it froze; if it was too hot, it burned the pigments. It is this "hot" technique that gives it such a particular grain, but also makes the work extremely fragile and impossible to varnish.
The work contains encrypted messages related to the circle of La Revue Blanche. We know that Misia Sert, the wife of Alexandre Natanson and muse of the Nabis, is represented in a stylized way in several panels. Her presence is an affective signature of the artist who was secretly in love with her. The interactions between nannies and children could also be read as a metaphor for social tensions and the class structure of the late 19th century, hidden under the apparent lightness of an afternoon in the park.
There is a "lost" panel or rather a modified version. Initially, Vuillard had designed nine panels, but the final arrangement evolved. Some preparatory studies show that the artist radically changed the background colors, moving from a lush green to more earthy tones to harmonize with his patron's furniture. This submission of the work to the object (the furniture) is a trade secret of the Nabis who considered the painting as furniture for the mind.
Finally, a conservation secret surrounds these canvases. Since they are not varnished, they absorb dust and pollution irreversibly. Restorers at the Musée d'Orsay use extremely complex dry cleaning techniques so as not to reactivate the skin glue. Every intervention is a risk, because the pictorial layer is so thin that it almost merges with the canvas fibers, making these gardens works that are literally skin-deep.
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Technically speaking, what peculiarity of the pictorial layer of "Public Gardens" explains its velvety matteness and its current extreme fragility?
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