Orchard (1897): Art, History and Details

Orchard (1897) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868–1940).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The organic strokes that comprise Vuillard’s trees contrast with the linear divisions of agricultural land. The imagery is reminiscent of a passage written by the artist’s muse, Misia Natanson: “Solemn and dreamy, Vuillard led me along the river, past high silver birch trees. . . . He slowly moved through the yellowed grass. . . . Our silhouettes were just shadows against a pale sky.”

Object facts

• Title: Orchard
• Date: 1897
• Creator attribution: Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868–1940)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on board
• Dimensions: Unframed: 22.4 x 29.4 cm (8 13/16 x 11 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2020.120

A detail from the museum

Fellow artist Maurice Denis noted in his journal that Vuillard paid little attention to color theory. In this painting, Vuillard used several colors that are next to each other on the color wheel such as orange, yellow, and green rather than pairing complementary colors.

Collection credit

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift

Further reading listed by the museum

• La Galerie Paul Vallotton: Exposition du 5 juillet au 8 septembre 1973 : a l'occasion du 60e anniversaire de sa fondation, 1913-1973. Lausanne: La Galerie, 1973.
• La Galerie Paul Vallotton a lʼhonneur de présenter du 22 juin au 2 september 1989, une exposition d'huiles, pastels, dessins et lithographies dʼÉdouard Vuillard (1868-1940). Lausanne: Galerie Paul Vallotton, 1989.
• La Galerie Paul Vallotton, Lausanne présente du 3 juillet au 2 septembre 1991 l'exposition: Mâitres suisses et français des XIXe et XXe siècles: huiles, aquarelles. Lausanne, 991.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.