Edouard Vuillard - Madame Andre Wormser and her Children [1926-27]

Edouard Vuillard - Madame Andre Wormser and her Children [1926-27], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Madame Wormser, née Olga Boris was the wife of French banker André Wormser. She stands in the drawing room of the family's Paris home at 27 rue Scheffer, with her four children grouped in the brightly lit area on the right. The elegant interior documents the taste of fashionable French society in the 1920s. One the walls are pictures by Manet, Monet, Renoir and Roussel. A large pastel by Degas hangs above the piano, obscured by the reflection of a striped sun canopy. 

This quiet domestic scene shows all the warmth and intimacy of Vuillard's late paintings. With the comically named Pouf des Landes, the family's pet dog, at her feet and a musical score in her hands, daughter Diane sits next to her youngest sister Sabine, absorbed in listening to Dominique playing the piano.Their brother Olivier stands at the back. He later served as Officer in the French Free Forces during the Second World War, and presented this painting to the National Gallery in thanks to the British Nation.

[Oil on canvas, 89.2 x 116.5 cm]