1867 -1947 · Paris, Vernonnet and Le Cannet

Radiant colors, Japanese framing and daily intimacy make Pierre Bonnard the painter of a familiar world constantly reinvented by memory.

Pierre Bonnard was born in Fontenay-aux-Roses in 1867 and died in Le Cannet in 1947. After studying law, he attended the Académie Julian, where he became friends with Paul Sérusier, Édouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis and Paul Ranson. With them, he participated in the adventure of the Nabis, a group which affirmed the decorative surface of the painting and the autonomous power of color. Passionate about Japanese prints, Bonnard adopted plunging perspectives, cut-out silhouettes and framing which seemed to extend the scene beyond the frame. Passionate about Japanese prints, Bonnard adopted plunging perspectives, cut-out silhouettes and framing which seemed to extend the scene beyond the frame. Passionate about Japanese prints, Bonnard adopted plunging perspectives, cut-out silhouettes and framing which seemed to extend the scene beyond the frame. Passionate about Japanese prints, Bonnard adopted plunging perspectives, cut-out silhouettes and framing which seemed to extend the scene beyond the frame. Passionate about Japanese prints, Bonnard adopted plunging perspectives, cut-out silhouettes and framing which seemed to extend the scene beyond the frame. Posters, lithographs, screens and decorations accompany his first paintings of Parisian life. His meeting with Mart a life, places the bath, the toilet, the meal and the bedroom at the heart of his work. Naked in the bath transforms the bathtub into a pool of light; The Mimosa Workshop opens the interior of the Cannet to a yellow explosion; The White Cat humorously stretches the feline anatomy; Dining room in the countryside finally blurs the line between table, window, garden and human presence. In Vernonnet then in Le Cannet, Bonnard does not simply paint on the pattern: he reconstructs the memory space, windows, garden and human presence. In Vernonnet then in Le Cannet, Bonnard does not simply paint on the motif: he reconstructs the memory space, superimposes sensations and lets the color develop slowly. This daily fidelity produces a painting that is always unstable, where the intimate becomes immense. The "Pierre Bonnard" selection puts particularly in view of Naked in the Bath and L'Atelier au mimosa. His reading favors composition.

Bonnard does not describe a room: he revives its sensation, until the table, the window, the body and the garden vibrate in the same colorful memory.