Au café (c.1897-1899)

Vuillard, Édouard (1868-1940)

Au café (At the Café)
c.18971899
Oil on board, laid on cradled panel, 28.8 x 27.5 cm
Cleveland Museum of ArtCleveland

Vuillard once said, “I don’t do portraits. I paint people in their surroundings.” This scene of two women in a Parisian café has a hushed atmosphere that is heightened by the warm palette and glow of gaslight. Édouard Vuillard and Félix Vallotton were close friends and painted together in the 1890s, but Vuillard’s quiet café and Vallotton’s riotous Bistro (2020.114) could not be more different in mood. (CMA)