Nude Seated

Nude Seated is an unusual subject within Vuillard's oeuvre, and its relatively private character reflects his discomfort with the female nude as an exhibited genre. While Bonnard made the intimate female nude — specifically his companion Marthe in the bathtub — a central and sustained subject, Vuillard's approach to the nude was more hesitant and occasional. His relationship with the female body in painting was shaped partly by his deeply intimate but apparently non-sexual relationship with his mother and partly by his long associations with women whose domestic and social roles were the primary subjects of his art. The seated pose, rendered with broad, simplified strokes rather than the fine modeling of academic nude painting, suggests a studio study made for personal purposes rather than for exhibition. The Morohashi Museum of Modern Art in Japan, which holds this canvas, reflects the significant Japanese collecting interest in Post-Impressionist European painting that developed in the late twentieth century.

The figure is modelled with broad, simplified strokes that define volume without fine detail. The palette is warm and restricted, with ochre and rose flesh tones set against an indeterminate background. Vuillard maintains his characteristic suppression of sharp tonal contrast, so the figure emerges gradually from the surrounding space rather than asserting itself dramatically.