Interior at Saint-Jacut

Executed on paper in 1909, this work records Vuillard's visit to Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer in Brittany, where he stayed with his patron Jos Hessel. The coastal village offered a change from Vuillard's usual Parisian and Normandy settings, and the work belongs to a broader group of travel-related studies from the middle period of his career. Interior scenes from temporary stays in others' houses remained intimiste in spirit — the familiar Vuillard grammar of figure absorbed into interior environment was portable and did not depend on the specific Parisian settings of his earliest work. The Metropolitan Museum's holding in paper shows Vuillard's comfort with varied supports.

Paper provides a lightweight, slightly absorbent ground. The interior is rendered with a delicate touch — soft ochres and cool greys convey the temporary, borrowed quality of a holiday domestic space distinct from the denser textures of the Paris apartment works.