A luminous pastel by Edouard Vuillard (1868–1940), one of the founding members of Les Nabis and one of the most celebrated French colourists of the early twentieth century. Signed lower right, this later-period work shows Vuillard's mature interest in the effects of natural and artificial light within an interior.

Painted for his close friend and model Gabrielle Jonas, the pastel exemplifies the technique for which Vuillard was most admired in his final decades: a mix of coloured strokes used to convey different light sources within a single composition, rather than the flatter, more stylised interiors of his earlier Nabi period.

The final exhibition of Les Nabis took place at the Galerie Bernheim in 1900, at which point Vuillard began to move away from his close, stylized interiors, and employ a greater degree of naturalism in his work. His style softened, and he preoccupied himself with the effects of light and colour, rather than systematic distortions. Vuillard's travels around Europe and the French countryside led to an increased interest in landscape and interior light. This later period pastel illustrates that shift: the scene is lit from both the blue daylight streaming through the window on the right and the warm glow of the interior lighting made up of pinks, reds and yellows seen in the room beyond.