Child Wearing a Red Scarf

Edouard Vuillard

National Gallery of Art

A child and man stand facing away from us in this vertical painting. The scene is painted with visible dabs, stipples, and strokes of paint, and many details, especially in the distance, are indistinct. A young girl is to the left, a blue band holding back her long brown hair. Despite the title of this painting, Child Wearing a Red Scarf, she wears a bulky, pumpkin-orange scarf around her neck over an ankle-length dress dotted with red. Streaks of brown suggest shoes under the lower hem. The person to our right wears dark trousers, a brown, long-sleeved shirt, and olive-green shoes outlined with black. This person’s right leg and head above the shoulders are cropped by the composition. A peach area suggests that the girl holds the hand or something by the man’s pants pocket but this area is difficult to read. The ground is ecru white, and loosely painted forms along the top of the composition suggest people standing and the room in the distance. The artist signed to top right corner, “E Vuillard.”