Ten past one...

In this striking color lithograph, a woman in a dark dress stands over a man slumped in a chair, a knife plunged into his chest. The scene is stark, with the woman's face a mask of cold determination and the man's expressionless. Vallotton, known as "the foreign Nabi" among his peers, uses bold, flat areas of color and strong outlines, a style he honed in his woodcuts. This print was part of a series called "Crimes and Punishments," published in the magazine L'Assiette au Beurre, which often satirized or commented on contemporary society. The unsettling quietness of the moment, despite the violence, invites contemplation on the nature of the act itself and the emotions (or lack thereof) of the perpetrators.