Pierre Bonnard : Painting with Light

Lecture

Bonnard Boy with Dog oil 1930

Bonnard is one of the most popular modern artists, and I will explain this popularity by looking at his life and work.

Bonnard Breakfast by the Radiator 1930

He started out in Paris producing lithographs influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec, before moving onto paintings in oil and distemper of Paris and its people in which he combines, colour, decoration and observation to great effect.

After the First World War he concentrates on nudes in interiors, often paintings of his wife, and pictures of friends in domestic settings.

Bonnard by the sea under the pines 1921
In 1926 he moved to Le Cannet in the South of France and began painting the colourful landscape of Provence. Sunlight floods his landscapes and interiors and it is not an exaggeration to say that we still see the South of France through his eyes.

In addition to his paintings, I look at his friendship with Édouard Vuillard, Claude Monet and Henri Matisse.