Tree at Gérardmer

Toward the end of the First World War, Vuillard was commissioned by the French government to record life at the front. He was sent to Gérardmer, a town in the Vosges area, near the German border. Harboring anti-military feelings, Vuillard had no interest in glorifying soldiers in battle and may have found relief in sketching this tree with a view of the town beyond.