Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard was born in Fontenay-aux-Roses, in the Ile-de-France region of France, and is a French post-impressionist painter. At the age of twenty, he met Vuillard, Maurice Denis and K.-X. Roussel, all four of whom were to be included in the Nabis group led by Sérusier, the “massier” of the Academy. Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh and above all Lautrec had an influence on the young artist, who exhibited his first paintings at the Indépendants in 1891 and who, five years later, held his first exhibition of paintings, posters and lithographs at Durand-Ruel. His paintings depicted the Parisian street and scenes of bourgeois life. He was noticed by Ambroise Vollard in 1900 and illustrated Parallèlement and Daphnis et Chloé, both of which are masterpieces, with lithographs for him. At the Salon d’Automne 1903, Bonnard exhibited with Rouault, Matisse and Marquet. His most characteristic works were produced after 1900. Transposing the universe into colour, his landscapes, still lifes and nudes are transfigured by a brilliant light. Extremely modest, rebellious to fashion and theories, Bonnard was nevertheless very difficult for himself. His work, worked in joy and ever more daring in its harmonies, bears the mark of both a marvellous youth and a science full of bonhomie. Above all, this great painter had the grace… Bonnard divided his life between his home in Le Cannet, on the Côte d’Azur, and Paris.