Work Table
1926/1937
Painter, French, 1867 - 1947


East Building Ground Level, Gallery 103-E
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil on canvas
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 121.9 x 91.4 cm (48 x 36 in.)
framed: 129.54 × 99.06 × 4.45 cm (51 × 39 × 1 3/4 in.) -
Accession
2006.128.12
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Acquired 1937 from the artist by (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris); sold to Pierre Loeb.[1] Paul Rosenberg, Paris.[2] private collection, Switzerland, in 1965. Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, Virginia; bequest 1999 to NGA, with life interest to Mrs. Mellon; life interest released 2006.
[1] Early provenance and Swiss collection per Jean Dauberville, Bonnard: catalogue raisonné, 4 vols., Paris, 1966: no. 1356.
[2] During World War II the painting was confiscated from the Rosenberg collection by the Nazi Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR). Documents from the National Archives in Washington indicate that the painting had been selected by Hermann Goering on 9 July 1941 from the Jeu de Paume (OSS Consolidated Interrogation Report #2, The Goering Collection, 15 September 1945, Attachment 5, Liste der für die Sammlung des Reichsmarschalls Hermann Göring abgegebenen Kunstgegenstände, dated 20 October 1942, 1 Nachtrag, no. 31, National Archives RG239/Entry 73/Box 78, copy in NGA curatorial files). Goering traded the picture to the dealer Gustav Rochlitz, from whom it was recovered after the war. The records of the Munich Central Collecting Point indicate that the painting was restituted to France on 27 March 1946 (Munich property card #8046, National Archives RG260/Box 503, copies in NGA curatorial files). It was exhibited in 1946 in Les Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections privées françaises retrouvés en Allemagne par la Commission de Récuperation artistique et les Services allies, no. 52.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1935
[exhibition], Reid and Lefevre, London, 1935, no. 32.
1939
Parisjsche Schilders, Stedeljik Museum, Amsterdam, 1939, no. 16, repro., as De schrijftafel.
1946
Les chefs -doeuvre des collections françaises retrouvées en Allemagne par la Commission de récupération artistique et les services alliés, Orangerie, Paris, 1946, no. 52, repro., as La table de travail.
1948
Pierre Bonnard, Cleveland Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1948, no. 53, repro., Table with Music Album.
1964
Bonnard and His Environment, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1964-1965, no. 40, repro., as Table with Music Album.
2009
Pierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2009, no. 20, repro.
2012
Pierre Bonnard, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
2015
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947): Painting Arcadia, Musée d'Orsay, Paris; Instituto de Cultura, Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2015-2016, no. 48, ill. 81 (French cat.); no. 20, repro. (Spanish cat.); no. 86, repro. (English cat.).
2017
Matisse - Bonnard. "Long live painting!", Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 2017-2018, no. 32, repro.
2018
Fascination Japan: Monet, Van Gogh, Klimt, Bank Austria (BA-CA) Kunstforum, Vienna, 2018-2019, pl. 80.
Bibliography
1966
Dauberville, Jean, and Henry Dauberville. Bonnard: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint. 4 vols. Paris, 1966-1974: 3:289, no. 1356.
1969
Fermigier, André. Pierre Bonnard. New York, 1969: 27, repro., as Table with Music Album.
Inscriptions
center left on upper left of paper on table: Bonnard
Wikidata ID
Q20192670