A set of oils signed by the young Vuillard banned from export

They constitute one of the first testimonies of the art of Édouard Vuillard: six decorative panels designed for the apartment of the Desmarais couple in 1892. The painter was barely 24 years old. Rachida Dati intervened on Thursday to prevent the release of this set in order to prevent its sale abroad and to keep it in national collections. “The minister considered that this real Nabi manifesto (avant-garde post-impressionist artistic movement, editor’s note) justified the use of the exceptional procedure of refusal of certificate (of export, editor’s note) and thus marks her attention to the safeguarding of heritage of our country”underlines a press release from the ministry, without giving details on the current owner.

A period of 30 months opens from this decision and Rachida Dati « expresses the hope that the tax system favoring the acquisitions of national treasures will offer the upcoming opportunity to enrich the national collections kept at the Musée d’Orsay with such a decorative cycle by Vuillard remaining complete and still in private hands »adds the ministry.

Wish of the National Treasures Commission

Vuillard’s masterpieces, the “Desmarais panels”, named after the sponsors, which have remained in France to this day. They include six oils on canvas, the program of which is divided into The sewing workshop has The steering wheel part, passing through Gardening, Petting the dog, or Nurses and children in a public garden. “ A set of major heritage interest, according to the ministry. Their complementarity is obvious with the works of Vuillard and his Nabis colleagues preserved at the Musée d’Orsay, which is now the world reference collection for the study of this movement at the turn of the 19th century.^e et du XX^e century, notably for Vuillard and Bonnard whose contribution to modernity is recognized as major. »

Rachida Dati’s decision follows those of the Musée d’Orsay « who proposed the ban on leaving the territory for this unparalleled example of the art of Vuillard decorator » and the Advisory Commission on National Treasures, unanimous in also wishing that it be classified as such. This was the very first commission received by the painter Édouard Vuillard, then aged 23, and his first cycle of decorative paintings.