tableau vivant

[ ta-bloh vee-vahn ]

noun

, French.

, plural ta·bleaux vi·vants [t, a, -bloh vee-, vahn].

1. tableau ( def 3 ).

tableau vivant

/ tablo vivɑ̃ /

noun

1. a representation of a scene, painting, sculpture, etc, by a person or group posed silent and motionless

Word History and Origins

Origin of tableau vivant¹

Literally, “living picture”

Word History and Origins

Origin of tableau vivant¹

C19: literally: living picture

Example Sentences

The next minute they are frozen in an eerie, extended tableau vivant——a still-life that's not actually still.

From The Daily Beast

One by one the young models stepped from the tableau vivant to march down the stage and back up again.

From The Daily Beast

And that will be the best tableau-vivant you or any one else can study.

From Project Gutenberg

It spreads before you every day and all around you: a picture whose figures throb with hidden life,a very tableau vivant.

From Project Gutenberg

I very much enjoy a letter from Joan, which gives me a kind of tableau vivant of you all.

From Project Gutenberg

The other drawing presents a tableau vivant on a larger scale, and of a much deeper interest.

From Project Gutenberg

And 189 in this transcript of the larger tableau vivant we find exactly the same phenomena.

From Project Gutenberg