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Two dogs stand near each other in the middle of a petal-pink street in front of two oyster-white buildings that fill the background in this vertical painting. The scene is loosely and thickly painted, with brushstrokes visible throughout, so details are indistinct. The dog closer to us is peach-colored while the other is white with dark brown patches, and they face each other. We look slightly down onto the street, and it comes almost halfway up the composition. A stone-gray wheelbarrow sits a bit above and to the left of the dogs, over a narrow, light gray horizontal stripe running the width of the road that could delineate the sidewalk. The two stories we see of the buildings have tall slate-blue windows, most covered with shutters. Each also has a band painted in patches of gray and brown running across the foundation. The building on our right has a narrow rust-red door while the other has two blue doors to match the shutters. Three small, navy-blue squares could be street numbers over the doors. The artist signed the painting near the lower right, “Bonnard.”

Pierre Bonnard

Two Dogs in a Deserted Street, c. 1894

Not on View

Medium

oil on pressed board

Dimensions

overall: 35.1 x 27 cm (13 13/16 x 10 5/8 in.)

framed: 56.5 x 48.5 x 5.7 cm (22 1/4 x 19 1/8 x 2 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

Accession Number

1970.17.3

Artists / Makers

Pierre Bonnard (artist) French, 1867 - 1947

Image Use

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Inscription

lower right: Bonnard

Provenance

Thaddée Natanson; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13 June 1908, no. 9); purchased by (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris).[1] Capt. Edward H. Molyneux [1891-1974], Paris, by 1947;[2] sold 15 August 1955 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[3] bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1] Annotated Natanson sale catalogue in NGA curatorial files.

[2] Probably lent by Molyneux to 1947 exhibition at the Orangerie; definitely lent to 1948 exhibition in New York.

[3] Purchase from Molyneux according the Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA Gallery Archives (copy NGA curatorial records).

Associated Names

Bernheim-Jeune
Bruce, Ailsa Mellon, Mrs.
Drouot, Hôtel
Molyneux, Edward H., Captain
Natanson, Thaddée

Exhibition History

1947: Bonnard, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1947, no 7, as Rue à Eragny.

1948: Pierre Bonnard, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1948, no. 5, repro.

1950: Exposition Rétrospective Bonnard, Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1950, no. 1, repro.

1952: French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1952, unnumbered checklist.

1961: French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 1, repro

1966: French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 154, repro

1978: Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978, unnumbered catalogue, p. 84.

1985: Bonnard 1857-1947, Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 1985, no. 16, as Rue à Eragny.

1990: Pierre Bonnard: The Graphic Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1990, no. 26, repro.

1993: Nabis 1888-1900, Kunsthaus, Zurich; Grand Palais, Paris; Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 1993-1994, no. 12, repro.

1994: Bonnard, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, 1994, no. 10, repro.

1998: Bonnard, Tate Gallery, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1998, no. 5, repro., as Street in Eragny-sur-Oise (shown only in London).

2012: Pierre Bonnard, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2013: Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016.

Bibliography

1921: Klingsor, Tristan. "Pierre Bonnard." L'Amour de l'art no 8 (August 1921): 246.

1922: Coquiot, Gustave. Bonnard. Paris, 1922: 21, 23.

1947: Besson, George. Bonnard. Paris, 1947: 16, repro.

1951: Natanson, Thadée. Le Bonnard que je propose. Geneva, 1951: 114, no 9.

1952: Rumpel, Heinrich. Bonnard. Berne, 1952: 21, no II, repro.

1966: Dauberville, Jean, and Henry Dauberville. Bonnard, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint. 4 vols. Paris, 1966-1974: no. 63, as Rue à Eragny-sur-Oise ou Les Chiens à Eragny.

1966: Goldwater, Robert. "The Glory that was France." Art News 65 (March 1966): 86.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 32, repro.

1978: Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 84, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1982: Thomson, Richard. "'Les Quat' Pattes': The Image of the Dog in Late Nineteenth Century French Art." Art History 5, no. 3 (September 1982):330-331.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 578, no. 885, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 52, repro.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 398-399, no. 330, color repro.