This work by Edouard Vuillard reminds me of the old Magic Eye images that ran in the Sunday comics back in the ’90s. You’d be presented with a dense, colorful pattern and have to figure out what the hidden image was. I could never do it.

In today’s episode we’ll find out how he and a group of young artists called the Nabis threw out the rules of traditional painting to create something more personal that made the viewer have to do some of the work of figuring out what’s going on.

If you want to follow along, you can find it here on the Gallery’s site.

SHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT BELOW)

“A Long Look” opening and closing themes are by Ron Gelinas
“Ascension” https://youtu.be/jGEdNSNkZoo and “Easy” https://youtu.be/2QGe6skVzSs

Episode theme is “Gnossienne” composed by Erik Satie. Performed by Edward Rosser. Courtesy of musopen.org

Artwork information
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.52238.html

Vuillard self-portrait
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.93000.html

Vuillard info
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/vuillard-edouard/

https://artuk.org/discover/stories/douard-vuillard-nabi-and-intimist

“Bonnard to Vuillard: Intimate Poetry: The Nabi Collection of Vicki and Roger Sant” by Elsa Smithgall, et al. New York, New York: Rizzoli Electa, 2019.

“Vuillard, the Inexhaustible Glance : Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels.” Salomon, Antoine., Guy. Cogeval, and Mathias. Chivot. Vol. 1, Milano: Skira, 2003.

Nabis info
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dcpt/hd_dcpt.htm

https://smarthistory.org/nabis-decorative-art/

Negative space trick
https://mymodernmet.com/negative-space-definition/

For a transcript visit https://alonglookpodcast.com/?p=2728