The Ball, Félix Vallotton

The Ball is one of Vallotton’s best known works and was produced when he was still close to Les Nabis. Indeed, the bird’s-eye view of figures in parks, gardens or other public places was a trait in paintings by Bonnard and Vuillard. For his take on this theme, Vallotton offers a high viewpoint of a child, his or her face obscured by a broad brimmed yellow hat, adorned with a red ribbon, and from under which a mop of blonde hair has escaped. The child’s boots are a dull orange colour while the floating white smock trails behind the child in the wind, emphasising the running pace at which he or she chases the red ball. Set against the tawny expanse of ground, and the deep shadow cast by the trees (under which lies what appears to be a second, light brown, ball), the child brings a vivid splash of light, almost as if being chased by the dark shadow. Across the lake, our eye is drawn to two pale figures standing side by side, one dressed in blue, the other in white. The diminutive size of the two women suggests that they are stood in the far background yet the picture plane is flat and frontal, broken up by the diagonal curve of the lake.

Félix Édouard Vallotton (1865 – 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as Les Nabis. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portraits, landscapes, nudes, still lifes, and other subjects in an unemotional, realistic style.

Available as a fine art print and as a stretched canvas panel (heavy fine art canvas stretched over 1.5 inch deep edge solid wood frame).