1947 (ca.), Pierre Bonnard, The Dining Room (detail) -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: In 1926, Bonnard and his partner, Marthe, acquired Le Bosquet, a small house in Le Cannet, on the French Riviera. This modest dwelling and its small garden became one of the artist's principal sources of inspiration during the later period of his career. When the house flooded with sunlight during the day, Bonnard could continue his career-long experiments in transposing the effect of light into colors, shapes, and textures. The luminous symphony of reds and yellows that dominate this painting commemorates the rays of light that burst across his dining room wall as the sun set on summer evenings. Rather than painting in imitation of the motif, he made sketches or took photographs of his environment to serve as the basis for his compositions. In his studio, he embellished the original image with tonal and formal elaborations that corresponded to the impressions of the scene he remembered most vividly. The sharpness of detail and heavy tonal contrasts of the serving dishes covering the dining table capture the viewer's attention. Meanwhile, Marthe and the objects in the foreground are rendered in a rather vague and evanescent manner. Bonnard's representation of the global field of vision illustrates his interest in integrating optical effects and photographic parallels into his painting techniques.
1947 (ca.), Pierre Bonnard, The Dining Room (detail) -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: In 1926, Bonnard and his partner, Marthe, acquired Le Bosquet, a small house in Le Cannet, on the French Riviera. This modest dwelling and its small garden became one of the artist's principal sources of inspiration during the later period of his career. When the house flooded with sunlight during the day, Bonnard could continue his career-long experiments in transposing the effect of light into colors, shapes, and textures. The luminous symphony of reds and yellows that dominate this painting commemorates the rays of light that burst across his dining room wall as the sun set on summer evenings. Rather than painting in imitation of the motif, he made sketches or took photographs of his environment to serve as the basis for his compositions. In his studio, he embellished the original image with tonal and formal elaborations that corresponded to the impressions of the scene he remembered most vividly. The sharpness of detail and heavy tonal contrasts of the serving dishes covering the dining table capture the viewer's attention. Meanwhile, Marthe and the objects in the foreground are rendered in a rather vague and evanescent manner. Bonnard's representation of the global field of vision illustrates his interest in integrating optical effects and photographic parallels into his painting techniques.