The Waltz, Félix Vallotton

The Waltz, Félix Vallotton

The Waltz was one of the first Nabi paintings by Swiss artist Félix Vallotton (1865–1925). The Nabi movement, which lasted only a few years (1888–1900), advocated a new spiritual impetus by means of art, combining all forms of artistic expression.
This painting depicts ice-skating couples twirling on the former Palais des glaces rink at the Champs-Élysées roundabout in Paris. True to the principles of the Nabi movement, which aimed to free painting from the bonds of realism and perspective, the work is done with an obvious desire to simplify shapes. Vallotton places emphasis on the image of the couples who bring the dance to life, as opposed to the individual characters, most of whom cannot be identified. The couples intertwined in sinuous ellipses and the multitude of tiny multi-coloured dots in the space around them contribute to the evocation of a night-time fairytale world in the glow of the artificial lights (the fine dust of ice lifted by the skaters and caught by the spotlights).