Young Woman in a Room

Young Woman in a Room from 1892, held at the Hermitage Museum, dates from Vuillard's earliest mature period when he was barely in his twenties and working intensively with the Nabi group. The year 1892 saw his style crystallize rapidly from student work into the compressed, patterned approach that would make his reputation. The young woman of the title may be his sister Marie, a frequent presence in his life and work during these years when he was living with his widowed mother. This early Hermitage acquisition reflects the enthusiastic Russian reception of French Post-Impressionist painting in the 1890s and early 1900s.

The palette at this early stage is somewhat cooler and more restricted than his mature work, with less of the dense chromatic richness he would develop through the decade. The figure's integration into the room's patterns is already the organizing principle, however.