The Black Skirt
Édouard Vuillard captures a fleeting moment of quiet introspection in this striking figure study. The woman, dressed in a stark white blouse and a sweeping black skirt that dominates the composition, seems to look down, her face obscured in shadow. Vuillard, a key member of the Nabis group, lived with his mother for most of his life and she was his favorite model, so this intimate sketch likely depicts her. The rough, textured application on the warm beige paper gives it a raw, immediate energy, feeling less like a formal portrait and more like a private snapshot of everyday life.