Pierre Bonnard

French, 1867 - 1947

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A horizontally oriented landscape with a bridge over a body of water, a grassy lawn, and trees is loosely painted mostly in shades of lemon yellow, spring and forest green, and sky blue. Brushstrokes are broad and blended throughout so details are often difficult to make out or take time to interpret. We look across the landscape from an elevated position, and the horizon nearly reaches the top of the canvas. In the lower left corner, a bridge painted with smoky, pale purple curves gently over a body of water. The lawn stretches to the right, where it meets what might be a fence or screen painted with pale green, rust brown, magenta pink, and yellow angling in from the lower right corner. Just beyond the rise, a person wearing a blue shirt carries a stick over one shoulder, perhaps a fishing pole. Beyond this, trees are covered with wispy, cottony canopies. The lawn continues to the left, where a second person walks toward us. Both people appear to have pale, peachy skin. Continuing into the distance, the impression of a tree-covered, shallow valley is painted with rounded, blended forms in leaf green, icy blue, and aquamarine under a periwinkle-blue sky. The artist signed the lower left corner, “Bonnard.”
Pierre Bonnard, A Spring Landscape, c. 1935, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.10

A Spring Landscape

Pierre Bonnard · c. 1935 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.10

We look down onto papers and books piled on a small wooden table with delicate, spindle legs, with a dog and cat on a sofa in the background in this vibrantly colored, stylized, vertical painting. The scene is loosely painted with dabs and visible brushstrokes in butterscotch and golden yellow, azure and navy blue, apple red, and white. The square table takes up most of the bottom two-thirds of the composition. Its surface is almost entirely covered with a spread of papers and stacks of books, including two thick, white volumes near the front, right corner and a thin red book on the other front corner. Smaller squares between the books are painted with streaks and washes of turquoise blue, scarlet, and brick red. A tall, narrow vase with abstracted, ice-blue flowers sits behind the stacked books, to our right. Beyond that, at the back right corner of the table, a sheet of paper reads “ALBUM MUSICAL,” with the final L partially obscured by a piece of bubblegum-pink paper set askew atop the stacked books. The artist’s name appears in rust-red letters on a paper at the back left corner of the table: “Bonnard.” The rug beneath the table is dominated by a vivid, azure-blue ring. The blue ring is surrounded by a white band decorated with widely spaced, black ovals dotted with pale lemon yellow. At the center of the blue ring is a black circle dotted with abstracted rosettes made with rings of apricot orange and gray around yellow centers. At the back edge of the rug, at the top left corner of the painting, a white cat sits and brown spotted dog lies on a mustard-yellow sofa, which has a wooden arm on the end we can see. There is a tangerine-orange chair next to it, in the upper right corner of the painting, and a teal-blue block there could be a pillow. The floor between the furniture is goldenrod yellow.
Pierre Bonnard, Work Table, 1926/1937, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2006.128.12

Work Table

Pierre Bonnard · 1926/1937 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2006.128.12

Pierre Bonnard, The Green Table, c. 1910, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.7

The Green Table

Pierre Bonnard · c. 1910 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.7

Shown from the waist up, we look slightly down onto a pale-skinned woman as she looks down and writes on a piece of paper in this vertical painting. The scene is loosely painted so brushstrokes are visible throughout and detail, especially in the background, is hard to make out. The woman wears a midnight-blue garment with long sleeves and a ruffled collar, and her hair is pinned or twisted up on the crown of her head. Her dark pink lips curve in a slight smile as she looks down with the pen poised in her right hand. Her left hand, to our right, rests with the fingertips on the sheet of paper. The table top is parchment white, and pink, white, and mint-green forms, presumably paper and a stationary box, sit in front of the woman and to our left. Her chair has a curved back and is upholstered with claret red. A vertical golden yellow strip on the right edge of the painting may indicate a curtain or wall, and a blend of muted blue, ash brown, and emerald green suggest patterned fabric or wallpaper behind her. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “Bonnard.”
Pierre Bonnard, The Letter, c. 1906, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.86

The Letter

Pierre Bonnard · c. 1906 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.86

We face a wall lined with furniture to either side of a tall window that looks out onto buildings in this almost square painting. The scene is painted with blended and broad strokes, which makes our view a little blurry so many details are indistinct. The walls are tan with a thin, dark blue line above a wide band of lighter blue along the bottom of the wall. The window is in the center of the wall opposite us. A teal-blue curtain hangs along its right, and sheer, artic-blue drapes are parted and fastened to the wall on each side. The view out the window shows a few brightly lit, pale blue and yellow buildings with gray roofs. Under the window, a light wood table is scattered with objects, difficult to identify, and one pale turquoise square that could be a painting. More objects are cluttered on the dark wood bureau to our left and a round table closer to us, which is cut off by the bottom edge of the canvas. A delicate straw-colored easel holding a small canvas stands just beyond the round table. A girl sits in the lower right corner of the composition, and she is cropped by the right and bottom edges. Her skin is pale and tinged with smoky blue. She wears a wreath in her hair, presumably of flowers, and her long dress and the bed or chair on which she sits blend together in tones of navy, spruce blue, and forest green. The artist signed and dated the lower left, “1900 Bonnard.”
Pierre Bonnard, The Artist's Studio, 1900, oil on wood, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2004.110.1

The Artist's Studio

Pierre Bonnard · 1900 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  2004.110.1

Pierre Bonnard, Walking at the Lake, Bois de Boulogne, c. 1900, oil on millboard, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2006.128.10

Walking at the Lake, Bois de Boulogne

Pierre Bonnard · c. 1900 · oil on millboard ·  Accession ID  2006.128.10

Pierre Bonnard, The Artist's Sister and Her Children, 1898, oil on cardboard on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.6

The Artist's Sister and Her Children

Pierre Bonnard · 1898 · oil on cardboard on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.6

Pierre Bonnard, From "La redemption par les betes", published 1959, lithograph in olive-gray on japan paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.2944

From "La redemption par les betes"

Pierre Bonnard · published 1959 · lithograph in olive-gray on japan paper ·  Accession ID  1964.8.2944

Pierre Bonnard, Frontispiece from "La redemption par les betes", published 1959, lithograph in olive-gray on japan paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.2943

Frontispiece from "La redemption par les betes"

Pierre Bonnard · published 1959 · lithograph in olive-gray on japan paper ·  Accession ID  1964.8.2943

Pierre Bonnard, From "La redemption par les betes", published 1959, lithograph in olive-gray on japan paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.2966

From "La redemption par les betes"

Pierre Bonnard · published 1959 · lithograph in olive-gray on japan paper ·  Accession ID  1964.8.2966