Édouard Vuillard, Mme Vuillard Sewing by the Window, rue Truffaut, ca. 1899

An artist of quiet interiors and mysterious, solitary figures, Edouard Vuillard lived and worked in the rooms on the rue Truffaut in Paris where his mother ran a corset business. Painting the richly patterned decorative appointments of his mother's crowded rooms, the artist often used her as his model. In "Mme Vuillard Sewing by the Window, rue Truffaut", she poses seated by a window, its lingering sunlight interrupting the dim, earthy palette of the family's dining room. Madame Vuillard is barely perceptible under the yardage of opaque white fabric she patiently sews. The artist plays with space and perspective, with texture and patterning, with the geometry and arabesques of his furnishings. Hiding in Vuillard's many complex and decorative paintings, a seamstress anonymously works her craft.