Under the Trees (from "The Public Gardens")

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

This painting is from a nine-panel decorative series showing children playing in two of Paris’s most spacious parks: the Tuileries Gardens and the Bois de Boulogne. It depicts a game of hide-and-seek in which a girl conceals herself behind a tree. The stillness of the women resting on green chairs at the right is countered by children running at the left. Rather than a realistic rendering of the subject, Édouard Vuillard arranged the composition in bands of colorful, decorative patterns so that the painting seems like a tapestry. Vuillard's social circle included actors and directors. He often contributed to their theatrical pursuits by designing costumes, programs, and set pieces. In this panel from a nine-part series, a patterned landscape recalls scenery for the stage.