1919 (ca.), Pierre Bonnard, The Open Window -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: Beginning in 1905, Paris-based Bonnard got into the habit of taking long stays in various locations on the French Riviera every year to enjoy the light and the inspiring beauty of the Mediterranean. During this period, he developed friendships with many artists who had also taken up residence in the South of France, notably fauvist painter Matisse and the neo-Impressionist Signac. Their ensuing exchanges and conversations encouraged Bonnard to reinforce his use of color to convey the intensity of his sensations at the spectacle of nature. This interior opening onto a maritime landscape captures the view from the window of the apartment he rented in 1919 in the city of Antibes. The framing of the composition focuses equal attention on the decoration of the room and the splendid seascape, in a symphony of bright and warm chromatic tones, which plays subtly with the contrast of shade and sunshine, the interior and the exterior.
1919 (ca.), Pierre Bonnard, The Open Window -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: Beginning in 1905, Paris-based Bonnard got into the habit of taking long stays in various locations on the French Riviera every year to enjoy the light and the inspiring beauty of the Mediterranean. During this period, he developed friendships with many artists who had also taken up residence in the South of France, notably fauvist painter Matisse and the neo-Impressionist Signac. Their ensuing exchanges and conversations encouraged Bonnard to reinforce his use of color to convey the intensity of his sensations at the spectacle of nature. This interior opening onto a maritime landscape captures the view from the window of the apartment he rented in 1919 in the city of Antibes. The framing of the composition focuses equal attention on the decoration of the room and the splendid seascape, in a symphony of bright and warm chromatic tones, which plays subtly with the contrast of shade and sunshine, the interior and the exterior.