At the Board Game, 1902

Dimensions: 68.2 x 58.4 cm

Physical Description: Oil on wood

Inventory Number: 1809

Acquisition: Acquired in 1926 as a gift from Walther Ratenau’s mother in Memory of her son

Status: Not on display

Texts

About the Work

Everything is in motion. The only calming elements in this disorderly setting are the two players at the back of the room. They appear to be eerily bodiless and lifeless in comparison with the objects around them. The interior, seemingly idyllic at first, turns out to have an underlying threatening quality: the colour of the objects extends beyond their outlines, the floor is curling, the walls seem to reach inwards and the chairs seem to be moving of their own accord. Vuillard considered the threat emanating from within a home a central topic of his art.

About the Acquisition

Mathilde Rathenau (1845-1926), née Nachmann, came from a prosperous Frankfurt banking family. In 1924 she informed the Städel that she wanted to donate a number of paintings that had belonged to her son Wather Rathenau (1867-1922) to the museum in his memory. Rathenau was Germany's foreign minister at the time of his assassination by the Organisation Consul in Berlin-Grunewald on 24 June 1922. He was born in Berlin in 1867, the son of the Jewish businessman Emil Rathenau, the subsequent founder of AEG, and his wife, Mathilde. He studied philosophy, physics and chemistry in Berlin and Strasbourg. The industrialist, writer and co-founder of the German Democratic Party was appointed foreign minister on 31 January 1922. The donation was not effected until after the death of his mother in 1926. Among the paintings, in addition to works by Fernand Khnopff, Max Liebermann and this work by Édouard Vuillard, was a self-portrait by Walther Rathenau, which was confiscated in 1937 as "degenerate art".

Work Data

Basic Information

Title: At the Board Game

Painter

Édouard Vuillard

Period Produced

20th century

Object Type

painting (artwork)

Physical Description: Oil on wood

Material

wood

Technique

Label at the Time of Manufacture: Signiert unten links, ca. 10 cm vom unteren und 12 cm vom linken Rand entfernt: EVuillard

Property and Acquisition

Institution

Städel Museum

Departement

Modern Art 1800–1945

Collection

Städelsches Kunstinstitut

Creditline: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Picture Copyright: Public Domain

Acquisition: Acquired in 1926 as a gift from Walther Ratenau’s mother in Memory of her son

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

Main Motif

Iconclass

Primary

31AA235(+3) sitting figure - AA - female human figure (+ sideview, profile)
31A235(+3) sitting figure (+ sideview, profile)
43C523(+1) draughts (+ sportsman, player, etc.)
46A13 commoners
41A221 living-room, parlour, sitting-room

Secondary

41A711 table
41A721 chair
41A431 carpet, rug
48C514 picture, painting
41A6711 flowers in a vase
41A33 window
41A421 curtains

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History: ...

Walther Rathenau (1867-1922), Berlin

Nachlass Walther Rathenau, Berlin, 1922

Vermächtnis Mathilde Rathenau-Nachmann (1845-1926), Berlin zum Andenken an ihren Sohn Walther Rathenau (1867-1922) an das Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 1926.

Information

Since 2001, the Städel Museum has systematically been researching the provenance of all objects that were acquired during the National Socialist period, or that changed owners or could have changed owners during those years. The basis for this research is the “Washington Declaration”, also known as the “Washington Conference Principles”, formulated at the 1998 “Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets” and the subsequent “Joint Declaration”.

The provenance information is based on the sources researched at the time they were published digitally. However, this information can change at any time when new sources are discovered. Provenance research is therefore a continuous process and one that is updated at regular intervals.

Ideally, the provenance information documents an object’s origins from the time it was created until the date when it found its way into the collection. It contains the following details, provided they are known: