La Terrasse at Vasouy, The Garden

This painting was the left half of a decorative panel commissioned by Jean Schopfer, a writer who published under the pen name Claude Anet. In 1935, over 30 years after its completion, Vuillard cut the panel into two and reworked it; the other half, La Terrasse at Vasouy, The Lunch, is also in the National Gallery’s collection.In 1901, both Schopfer and Vuillard stayed in a villa at Vasouy, along the coast from Honfleur in Normandy, which had been rented by their friends Lucy and Jos Hessel. Here, the visitors enjoy the villa’s lush garden: adults pause to talk on a meandering path while the two young Schopfer children play in the foreground, accompanied by their nurse. Just behind this trio stands Lucy Hessel, who was inserted into the painting when it was reworked.