Nature Morte Aux Roses

Nature Morte Aux Roses, painted in 1907, shows Vuillard in his later period applying the Intimist sensibility of his 1890s interiors to a still-life subject, the cut roses and their domestic setting merging into the dense patterned surfaces that were his characteristic approach. By 1907 the most radical phase of his Nabi period was behind him, but the underlying formal preoccupations — the flattening of space, the integration of figure and decorative ground, the muted earthy palette — remained consistent in his treatment of whatever subject he addressed. The Nabis had taken Gauguin's flat Synthetism and applied it to intimate modern subjects, and Vuillard remained the most committed member of the group to the domestic interior as the site of formal investigation throughout his long career.

Vuillard's treatment of the still life applies his Intimist technique to floral subject matter — the roses and their container integrated with the surrounding surface pattern in the mosaic-like strokes of muted color that define his approach. His palette of ochres, roses, greens, and dusty pinks treats the flowers not as isolated objects of beauty but as elements within the dense decorative fabric of domestic space.