Nu assis

Nu Assis — Seated Nude — represents a less characteristic aspect of Vuillard's early practice, since the nude was not among the subjects to which he returned most frequently. In 1891, however, his academic training in the figure was still recent, and the seated nude gave him a subject in which to test his emerging Nabi stylistic convictions against the most traditional of figure-painting formats. The figure study without the contextualising environment of his domestic subjects would have forced him to rely entirely on formal arrangement and surface treatment. The painting's current location is unrecorded, suggesting it passed into private ownership.

A seated nude without environmental context required Vuillard to find formal interest in the figure alone. His approach likely differed from academic convention by using the same pattern-conscious surface treatment he applied to dressed figures, giving the nude's skin the same textural attention as surrounding drapery.