Portrait of Elvira Popesco

Portrait of Elvira Popesco from 1937 shows Vuillard in his last years painting the Romanian-French actress who was one of the most celebrated theatrical figures in France between the wars. Popesco's success in French theater and her connections to Parisian cultural life made her a notable addition to the social world Vuillard was depicting in his late commissioned portraits. The portrait was made when Vuillard was eighty years old — a late creative act within a career that had remained productive almost to the end.

The late portrait shows Vuillard's mature technique in its most assured form — the complex interior environment and the sitter's theatrical personality both registered with the calm observational intelligence that characterizes all his best portraiture. His color sense remains vivid and his surface handling active, showing none of the dulling that affects some artists in extreme old age.