Maternité

1886–1927 · Virkested

Paris

1894

Commission for stained-glass windows for Tiffany

Siegfried Bing, who gave Art Nouveau its name, commissions Vuillard and the other Nabis to design stained-glass windows to be made by Louis Tiffany’s American firm; the designs are shown in 1895 at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, but the windows are never made.

1894

Journal: why he mostly paints women

He writes in his journal that when he looks at men he sees only gross caricatures, while in women he always finds elements that satisfy him as a painter, which is why he populates his interiors mostly with women.

1894–1908

The Dreyfus Affair divides the Nabis

The Dreyfus Affair split French society and deepened the rift among the Nabis: Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard supported Dreyfus, while Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier sided with the army.

December 1895

Shown at the opening of Bing’s Maison de l’Art Nouveau

Displayed at the opening of Bing’s gallery in December 1895 are his series of decorative porcelain plates, with women in modern dress immersed in floral designs, his design for the Tiffany window and the decorative panels made for the Natansons.

late 1890s

A long relationship with Misia Natanson

In the late 1890s begins his long relationship with Misia Natanson, wife of his patron Thadée: he helps her decorate the Natansons’ apartment, paints her often in his decorative panels and regularly accompanies the couple to their country house. Vuillard never married, but women greatly shaped his life and work.