Autobiographical Tour Intimate Vuillard Retrospective Includes Paintings, Interiors, Photos by Serena Lei The ...douard Vuillard retrospective at the National Gallery of Art begins with an arresting black-and-white self-portrait of the artist. It is an appropriate beginning for an autobiographical exhibit that takes us into the lives of Vuillard and his friends and family. To better understand the full range of Vuillardís style, the exhibit is neatly broken down into chronological chunks, taking us from Vuillardís neo-impressionist beginnings to his work in theater, interiors, decorations, landscape, photography and portraits. A second self-portrait, ìOctagonal Self-Portrait,î is painted in flat, pure blocks of color. A shadow lies across his otherwise two-dimensional face. The painting reveals Vuillardís early influences and his association with a group of artists called Les Nabis. ìNabiî means ìprophetî in Hebrew and Arabic and was chosen by the group for the wordís mystical connotations. Vuillard did not buy into the groupís spiritual side, but he believed in their post-impressionist view of art. The Nabis sought to express the artistís emotional and subjective response over realistic depictions of their subjects. Vuillardís art also extended to avant-garde theater. He created stage sets and theater posters and even co-founded his own theater company, ThÈ?tre de líOeuvre. The exhibit here includes lithographic playbills and theater programs and posters. During the 1890s, Vuillard created interiors (paintings of the inside of a room) and decorative panels. It is in his interiors that we see Vuillardís mother and sister in their home setting, where Vuillardís widowed mother set up a dressmaking business. The faces are often abstract but the paintings are busy with wallpaper patterns, bright textiles and the texture of fabric. In fact, pieces were often named by the fabric or pattern that stood out in the pieceói.e. ìThe Flowered Dress,î ìThe Blue Sleeve,î ìThe Yellow Curtainî and others. These private, intimate paintings offer a glimpse into the relationships in Vuillardís family. Vuillardís sister Marie is often seen from the back. In ìMother and Sister of the Artist,î Marie is uncomfortably bent at the waist and pressing herself against the patterned wall while Vuillardís mother sits in the center, her black-clad figure taking up most of the space, edging out Marie with one bent elbow. Vuillardís friend Kerr-Xavier Roussel, also a member of the Nabis, originally persuaded Vuillard to take art classes. Roussel soon married Marieóa relationship that is played out in Vuillardís paintings. At first, we see Marie preparing her home for Roussel and receiving advice from her mother. Later, in ìA Family Eveningî and ìThe Table: End of a Lunch at the Vuillard Home,î Vuillard expertly recreates the uncomfortable tensionóthe silent dinners, the somber moodóof a marriage that has fallen apart. Vuillard began moving into interior design and decorations. His prints can even be found on gravy boats and plates, a few of which remain and are on display. Vuillard also painted large-scale panels and screens used for decorating the homes of his patrons. Eight of the nine panels of ìThe Public Gardensî series are on display for the first time since a Paris exhibition in 1906. The panels are reminiscent of tapestries or Japanese screens with a connecting theme. They represent park scenes of women and children that Vuillard observed at Tuileries Gardens and the Bois de Boulogne. Together, the series is a beautiful and intimate recreation for which the label ìdecorationî seems miserably slight. Vuillard became associated with another group of artists and writers centered on La Revue Blanche, an avant-garde journal, giving us a glimpse into its relationships, conversations and its sometimes unrequited emotions. Vuillard also worked with patrons Misia Natanson and her husband ThadÈe. In ìThe Nape of Misiaís Neck,î the subject is looking away from the artist, her neck exposed. The small, cropped, rectangular shape of the painting creates an intimacy as the viewer focuses on the singular color of Misiaís neck. Misiaís charm, and her effect on Vuillard, comes out in his paintings, where she is often the central figure. In ìMisia and Vallotton at Villeneuve,î we see Misia and an artist conversing with off-screen players. ThadÈeís stomach can be seen edging into the picture from the left. And in ìWoman Seated in Chair,î ThadÈe again plays a background role to Misia. Vuillard often visited the Natansons in the country, and also traveled with his friends Lucy and Jos Hessel. Vuillard began painting landscape art during these vacations. His tiny watercolor landscapes with their delicate light colors seems a departure from his earlier work. There is an airy quality to his paintings, a feeling of wide open space within his abstract, flat landscapes. The last sections of the exhibit focus on Vuillardís photography and portraits. Both forms maintain the spontaneity of social gatherings and the intimacy of domestic scenes. Vuillard placed a great deal of importance on the setting and background of a scene. In fact, he denied that his paintings were portraits at all but rather ìpeople in their homes.î Indeed, Vuillardís portraits were not exact representations, but rather depicted the personalities of his subjects through the day-to-day life settings in their own homes. Vuillardís early self-portraits, the paintings and photographs of friends and family, the intimate home settings, and the expertly conveyed relationships and emotions caught on his canvas make us a witness to his lifeóa truly autobiographical tour through art. The ...douard Vuillard exhibit runs through April 20 at the National Gallery of Art, Third and Ninth Streets at Constitution Avenue, NW. For more information, please call (202) 737-4215 or visit www.nga.gov. Serena Lei is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.