Here, Vallotton – himself about to take the marital vows – denounces adultery, the flip side of the sacrosanct institution of marriage. While descriptive, the title could also refer to the similarly titled novel by August Strindberg (1879), a mordant attack on the hypocrisy of bourgeois life. La chambre rouge is the first work in the series, and gives the key. With their uncompromising colours, clinical delineation of forms and strangely disquieting themes, these six Intérieurs avec figures represent the quintessence of Vallotton’s art at the turn of the century. For a shared exhibition with the Nabis to be put on at the Durand-Ruel gallery in 1899, the Swiss artist presented a new series of Intimités, but this time they were paintings. Félix Vallotton attained recognition in the 1890s with his woodcuts, and in particular with his Intimités series, ten scenes from the private life ( intimité) of a modern couple.
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