A masterpiece by Édouard Vuillard banned from export

A new treasure will perhaps soon enter the Musée d’Orsay! The Minister of Culture Rachida Dati intervened to prevent the exit from France of a set of six overdoors painted in 1892 by Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940), figure of the Nabi movement, by refusing its owner the export certificate he requested in order to be able to sell it abroad. The minister hopes to be able to enter this lot into the national collections.

This is a exceptional procedure that the French State reserves the right to initiate when a work presents “a major interest for the national heritage from the point of view of history, Art or archeology”. The State now has a 30 month period to reach an agreement with the owner as well as the necessary funds – certainly several million euros – to acquire this cycle of decorative panels painted in oil on canvas, which the advisory commission on national treasures unanimously wishes see classified national treasure.

A “true Nabi manifesto”

This set is none other than the very first cycle of decorative paintings by Édouard Vuillard, and the very first order of his career. When the artist was only 23 years old, the Desmarais couple had in fact asked him to create these overdoors to decorate the living room of their private mansion located near Parc Monceau in Paris. Composed of six daily scenes dont The Steering Wheel Part, Gardening, The Dog Caresset Nurses and children in a public gardenthe whole was then stayed within the family until this day.

“The minister considered that this true nabi manifesto justified the use of the exceptional procedure of refusal of certificate and thus marks its attention to the safeguarding of the heritage of our country”, declared the Ministry of Culture in a press release published on October 17, specifying that these panels “form a set of major heritage interest » and “an unparalleled example of the art of Vuillard decorator”. “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 “.

Soon at the Musée d’Orsay?

The Musée d’Orsay, which is at the origin of this request for a ban on leaving the territory, is particularly interested in “the contribution of the Nabis to the decorative arts”which she considers “essential” but “still little-known”, and preserves a certain number of works by the artist, dont Public gardens (1894), three decorative panels showing children playing in a park – a subject close to some of the Desmarais overdoors. Works that would be interesting to see exhibited side by side!