Adultère dans le Canard: Félix Vallotton's Les Intimités Prints and their Visual Relationships to Dutch Domestic Interiors

Abstract

Félix Vallotton's revolutionary 1898 series of prints, entitled Les Intimites, are innovative modern works informed by the misogyny, political upheaval, and class warfare of Paris during the fin-de-siècle. The ten prints, although uniquely contemporary, were visually influenced by the tradition of the Dutch domestic interior painting. Because of his presence in Paris during the Belle Epoque, Vallotton's appropriation of the Dutch genre scene was offset by the synthesis of its 17th century visual substructure with a pessimistic 20th century mood and narrative.