![Louis Valtat - The White Mouse [1893]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7319/16404063380_7248b5f01f_o.jpg)
The fresh and vibrant colours foreshadow the artist’s later foray into Fauvism, a movement which indeed found its origins in the art of Valtat and similar painters who adopted the use of strong colour during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Here Valtat employs colour to a subtler and more decorative effect, expressing a clear affinity with Nabis aesthetic. The painting’s Nabis-influenced interior, and most particularly the large-scale, simplistic patterning of the rug, attests to Valtat's position at the forefront of the avant-garde at this time, rapidly adopting select elements of various vanguard styles within his oeuvre.
[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on canvas, 81.4 x 100.6 cm]