Coquèterie

Painted in 1911, 'Coquèterie' (Coquetry) belongs to a group of Vallotton's canvases that explore the charged social dynamics between men and women — particularly the codes of flirtation, display, and desire that governed bourgeois social interaction in pre-war Paris. His images of couples and social encounters from this period are among the most psychologically acute works of the era, encoding complex power relationships in the precise spatial arrangements of figures within interiors. Coquetry as a subject had a long tradition in French painting from the Rococo onwards, but Vallotton's version removes all lightness: his 'coquettes' are not playful or charming but slightly unsettling, their social performance made visible and therefore slightly sinister by his cold observation. The title itself carries the detached irony characteristic of his entire figurative project.

Oil on canvas using Vallotton's mature figure technique: smooth, hard-edged forms with minimal visible texture or atmospheric softening. The relationship between the figures — if multiple figures are present — is articulated through precise spatial positioning rather than gestural interaction. Colour is used to distinguish figure from background and to establish the social registers of costume. The paint surface is smooth and suppresses expressive mark-making.