Biography
Pierre Bonnard gave up law school in 1885 and began studying the works of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet and Gauguin in 1888. Between 1889 and 1902 he produced approximately 250 lithographs for billboards, wall and theater decorations, plus illustrations among others. He was the founding member of the famous group of ‘Post-Impressionist’ painters and artists, ‘Les Nabis.’ Influenced by his experience with commercial art, Bonnard’s first solo exhibition took place at the Paris in 1896. Initially Bonnard found his motifs in the city of Paris: small, instantaneous everyday scenes, often depicted from an unusual angle. His streets scenes were gradually replaced by pastoral, idyllic scenes, nudes and interiors. Over the years, Bonnard traveled to England, Belgium, Holland, Spain and Italy, mostly accompanied by his friend Vuillard. In 1925 he got married and one year later moved to the southern French town of Le Cannet for good. He considered himself the last of the impressionists and he died on January 23, 1947. His most famous painting “Dining Room in the Country,” dates back to the year 1913.
“Dining Room in the Country”, which is currently held at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is an oil painting on a large canvas,64 ¾” X 81″ inches. It is an interior of the dining room at Bonnard’s house, ‘Ma Roulette,’ (my caravan) captured from a corner. In 1912, Pierre Bonnard bought a country house at Vernonnet, a small town on the Seine. Bonnard’s wife Marthe de Méligny is leaning on the window. The painting is from that phase of the Bonnard’s life when he was greatly inspired by his wife in various domestic settings. It is a work of small, yet bold brushstrokes, extremely rich in Japanese style color scheme. Bonnard emphasized the expressive qualities of bright colors and loose brushstrokes.
In this piece, Pierre Bonnard has meticulously combined the animate and inanimate elements. For example, at the right side, there are objects of still life – the three plates with edibles on the dining table, the brown wooden dining chair, and the set of jug & glasses on the wooden rack in the background, lit by bright sunlight. The left side features a small white cat on the lawn chair, and the trees & grass outside. A remarkable aspect of this painting was that Pierre did not capture the scene live. To add the ‘Symbolist’ subjectivity of the piece, he preferred to paint based on his memory. It is said to be “One of the most spontaneous, most strikingly original temperaments.”
