Deux élégantes

Pierre Bonnard prints bring sunlit breakfast tables, Paris streets in the rain, bathing women and gardens glowing with colour into your home. Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, a founding member of the Nabis, whose decorative, colour-filled art bridged Impressionism and modernism. Our collection of fine art prints covers his paintings, lithographs, posters and book illustrations.

About Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard was born in Fontenay-aux-Roses on 3 October 1867, the son of an official in the French Ministry of War. He spent summers at the family's country home at Le Grand-Lemps in the Dauphiné, painting in the garden. To please his father he studied law and qualified as a lawyer, while attending classes at the Académie Julian, where he met Paul Sérusier, Maurice Denis, Henri-Gabriel Ibels and Paul Ranson.

At the École des Beaux-Arts he met Édouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier Roussel, and with his friends founded the Nabis. His poster for France-Champagne, his first commercial success, convinced his family he could live from art. He was passionate about Japanese prints, earning the nickname "the very Japanese Nabi", and worked for the magazine La Revue Blanche.

From 1893 he lived with Marthe de Méligny, who became his constant model, appearing in many interiors and bathing scenes. He made lithographs, posters, book illustrations and painted landscapes, street scenes and intimate domestic pictures. In his later years he lived at Le Cannet on the Riviera, where he died on 23 January 1947.

Style and Subjects

Bonnard's early work, influenced by Gauguin and Japanese prints, uses flat areas of colour, patterns and unusual viewpoints. His lithographs and posters are witty and decorative.

His later paintings are glowing fields of colour, in which the setting, colour and brushwork matter more than the subject: breakfast tables, open windows, gardens and Marthe in the bath, dissolved into shimmering light.

Famous Works

• Two Poodles (1891), Southampton City Art Gallery. A witty early Nabi painting.
• The Checkered Blouse (1892), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. A young woman in a patterned blouse, flat and decorative.
• In Private (1893). An intimate early interior.
• Nursemaids' Promenade, Frieze of Carriages (1895). A frieze of Paris street life with nursemaids and carriages.
• Street at Evening in the Rain (1899). A Paris street at dusk in the rain.
• Nude against the Light (1908), Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. Marthe in a sunlit room.
• Dining Room in the Country (1913), Minneapolis Institute of Art. An open door to the garden in glowing colour.

Decorating with Bonnard Prints

Bonnard's colourful interiors and garden scenes, like Le Petit Déjeuner, are perfect for a kitchen, dining room or sunroom, and suit both French country and modern interiors.

His black-and-white and colour lithographs, such as the Nursemaids' Promenade panels, make a charming, graphic gallery wall in a hallway or study.

FAQ

What art movement was Pierre Bonnard part of?

He was a founding member of the Nabis and a leading figure in the move from Impressionism to modernism.

Who was Marthe in Bonnard's paintings?

Marthe de Méligny lived with Bonnard from 1893 until her death and was the model for many of his paintings, including his famous bathing scenes.

Why was Bonnard called "the very Japanese Nabi"?

Because of his passion for Japanese prints, whose flat colour, patterns and viewpoints strongly influenced his work.

Where can I see Bonnard's paintings?

The Musée d'Orsay and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Minneapolis Institute of Art hold important works.

Related Artists

• Édouard Vuillard: close friend and fellow Nabi
• Maurice Denis: fellow founding Nabi
• Paul Sérusier: fellow Nabi he met at the Académie Julian
• Ker-Xavier Roussel: fellow Nabi
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: poster artist of the same Paris world