The Piano

This canvas was part of the decoration in the library of Dr. Vaquez.

Throughout his career, Vuillard executed a number of large-scale decorative panels, commissioned by his friends and patrons. His early Nabi decorations, dating from the 1890s, reflect the artist’s obsession with patterns. Dr. Louis-Henri Vaquez was a well-known and celebrated cardiologist and a professor of clinical medicine in Paris. A life-long friend and patron of Vuillard, he commissioned a number of works from the artist in 1896. To decorate the library of Dr. Vaquez’s apartment, Vuillard painted four decorative panels on the theme of women and flowers in interiors, which were later bequeathed to the Mus�e du Petit Palais in Paris.