Henri Matisse loved the work of Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), buying his painting Evening in the Living Room, in a show of support for this artist whom he admired. Picasso was diametrically opposed, saying derisively that Bonnard painted with “a potpourri of indecisive colors.” And so it was in the world of painting in the early 20th century. Bonnard’s work was deemed unclassifiable by some in those days. He did not fit into any of the movements of the time. He was not a Fauve, nor a Cubist. He was thought of as perhaps a Post-Impressionist, but his work tended too much toward the decorative. That penchant for the decorative did help place him among the Nabis, a short-lived group that sought to emulate Paul Gauguin, was anti-academicism, and embraced the decorative. Intimism was another term applied to his work, because it focused on mundane household scenes. But by in large, he was outside of categories.
However, what is not understood in one age is often recognized as brilliance by another. So it is with the work of Bonnard. The Tate Gallery in London did a retrospective of Bonnard’s paintings in 2019 called, The Colour of Memory, which gave the modern public the chance to view this painter, acknowledged along with Matisse as being a pioneer in the use of color. That can be seen in the painting above in his handling of pastels and heavy primary colors. In fact, he uses the colors to divide the painting into two areas, a vertical of pastel pinks in the lower part of the painting, representing the table, and a horizontal of primary red, blue, and yellow in the upper part of the painting, representing the wall and the window.
Bonnard’s colors can be dizzying, as we see here in Door Open onto the Garden. The eye is almost assaulted by the mixture of wild and conflicting colors. Once one calms down from the full frontal colors, it can be seen that the composition is as normal as that of any scene showing a part of an interior of a house, with the doors open to a balcony and a view outside. The trees are present as are distant white buildings and a blue sky. One can imagine the same set up in a photograph from a fancy magazine about life on the French Riviera. Except here the artist takes us on a magical tour into a heightened reality, where the placement of things is not as important as how they vibrate with color. Look at the bottom panel of the door. It’s shape is there, but that blue is not a solid single tone. It is mixed with what looks like scraped lines of gray, blue-violet, light blue, and pink. It stands in total contrast to both the reds and red-orange of the floor and close by the deep red-violet of the tablecloth and its yellow tray. Everything seems intense, which has the effect of making this ordinary scene shout at the viewer, “Hey, look at me!”
Bonnard claims to have struggled with white. He covered his canvas, which often were just long pieces of canvas upon which he worked on several pieces at once, with a white ground. He saw white as the foil to other colors and wanted to use it rather like a watercolorist to illuminate the colors laid on top of it. He also liked to use it as a toned element in the parts of the canvas he left bare. We can see that in the painting of Strawberries, where the white tablecloth is a mottled combination of pale pinks and violets. The composition is interesting as the strawberries are fully shown, though toward the bottom of the painting, leaving an expanse of white tablecloth. The cup and a couple of other items are only partially shown and add both complimentary and contrasting color to the strawberries. In A Bowl of Cherries, the white comes from the china dishes and their reflections in the polished dark surface of the table. The white of those dishes also has little specks of color in them for a bit of definition, and one holds a piece of some yellow food item, again for a touch of contrast to the primary red of the cherries.
Another aspect of Bonnard’s painting involves his representation of women as almost spectral figures. That can be seen in the Dining Room onto the Garden, (first painting above) where the figure of his wife and life-long model, Marthe, is almost a part of the wall coloring. Her face and head could almost be a waterstain on the wall paper. Here the female figure who carries a bowl of milk in her hand seems almost as spectral as this scene, which looks as if it were lit by moonlight. The woman who modeled for this piece was Renée Monchaty.
That brings us to the subject of his models. While he did have more than one model and seemingly had various affairs, there were two women whose history with Bonnard shows the complications that can happen between artists and their models. Marthe Boursin was Bonnard’s model from 1893 until her death in 1942. She met him while working selling expensive artificial flower arrangements in a Paris shop. She lived and modeled for him for 30 years until their marriage in 1925 and was married to him until her death. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Au contraire mes chers amies.
This painting is Nude in the Bath, 1925. It is a picture of Marthe, who was obsessed with bathing as a way to cure some supposed malady. This is one of the many bathing nudes that Bonnard did of his wife, who some saw more as his jailer than his companion. She was moody, reclusive, extremely jealous, and manipulative. In her first meeting with Bonnard, she claimed to be descended from Italian nobility. She seems to have left Bonnard briefly to marry another man in the late 1890s only to return to Bonnard after a few years, where she seemingly sought to keep him to herself.
(Notice in the painting above that there is another figure in the bathroom, someone wearing a slipper and robe. Just another example of Bonnard’s use of mystery in his painting, as though this were all part of a dream.)
The painting above is one of Renée Monchaty, a model whom Bonnard met in 1921. He did a number of paintings of her and took her off with him for a trip to Rome, where they seemingly fell in love. Bonnard decided to marry her; however, Marthe did not take to that idea kindly after her 30 years of life with him. She went on a rampage through Bonnard’s studio, ripping apart all of the paintings of Renée that she could find. Bonnard did return to Marthe and decided to marry her, which he did in 1925. This devastated Renée, who took her own life shortly thereafter. The painting of the blond woman in the garden is of Renée and one of the few that Marthe did not find. Bonnard kept it for the rest of his life and only finished it shortly before his own death.
It is speculated that his long and troubled relationship to Marthe may have been the wellspring of his art. It may also be why he paints her often fading into the background (my opinion). On the other hand, Renée has a rather ghostly quality about her as well. Certainly Bonnard loved the comforts of his home which he painted often, though from memory. He did not sit in that dining room and paint it, nor did he do plein air. It did his painting in his studio, from his recollections. Memory, of course, has fuzzy edges, where things blend together, change tone, and become imprecise, perhaps indecisive? This may also play a part in the vagueness of these figures.
While Picasso said that Bonnard was just the tail-end of one era (Post-Impressionism) but did not move into anything new, Matisse called him a great painter. Personally, I am with Matisse on this one. Bonnard, far from being the “painter of happiness” as some call him because of those bright colors and charming domestic scenes of dining tables, gardens, and the like, is a painter who traveled deep into the recesses of his mind to bring forth a new way of looking at color, what it could represent, and how it affects the perception of objects and figures.
Here is one of his pieces which will leave this article on a lighter note but still amazed at his use of color.
The articles used to prepare this post are as follows:
“The Colour of Memory” an exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London tate.org.uk “All the Heaven Allows” by Bruce Hainly artforum.com “Pierre Bonnard: The Bright Palette of a Tortured Soul” by Lara Marlowe, irishtimes.com “Eight Essentials to Know About Pierre Bonnard” tate.org.uk “Who was Marthe Bonnard? New Evidence Paints a Different Picture of Pierre Bonnard’s Wife and Model.” by Dr. Lucy Whelan, Durham University.
Paintings used for this post are either in public domain (1925 and before) or used in accordance with Fair Use Policy for purposes of review and critique.
Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com
Bonnard’s Riviera and Côte de Provence Wines
The area east of the Rhone River in southern France is Provence. It has a number of wine-growing regions which include Côte de Rhone, the area near Avignon, while the area that sits between the southern mountains and the Mediterranean is called Côte de Provence and that includes an area not far from where Bonnard lived, Bandol. The whole region in France is known as Provence, Alpes, Côte d’Azur or PACA.
The main thing about this region is le terroir, that French term that includes not just the soil where the grapes are grown, but the climate and in a certain sense even the wine-making culture of a specific region. The mountain valleys in this southern region provide two important things, sunshine and warm days for the leaves of the vines and their maturing grapes, along with cool nights and lots of water for the roots of those vines. The soil tends to be limestone, which is excellent for the growing of grapes, and to top it off, there is a viticulture history that goes back centuries and is focused on the specialty of the region, rosé wine. Of Art and Wine has already taken a look at Provence’s affinity for rosé in the article “Straight Out of Provence: Cezanne and Rosé Wine.” There is mentioned that extremely distinct rosé produced in Tavel. It’s rich deep amber color has almost made it a distinct category of wine in and of itself. In contrast, Côte de Provence rosés tend toward the palest of pale pink.
Rosé is an invention of Provence, and no it is not just white wine mixed with red wine. (You get detention after school for thinking that!) America unfortunately went through a period where rosé was thought of as a cheap wine to swill on a hot summer day, where one could put the bottle in the freezer for a while and then drink the wine with its particles of ice as Slush. Yes, I have sinned. I did this in the 80s like everybody else. However, that was before I lived on the Côte d’Azur, so I have been redeemed. Making good rosé requires years of experimentation and specialization.
Côte de Provence rosé is made from four different grapes: 45% Cinsault, 35% Grenache, and 15% Syrah, and sometimes 5% Mourvèdre. These grapes tend to be dark-skinned grapes, and it is leaving those skins on for just the right amount of time that produces the pink color of the wine. The juices taken from the grapes is fermented in stainless steel containers to preserve the taste of the grapes. However, 8% of the Syrah grapes are fermented in oak barrels to enrich the natural flavor but not overwhelm it with the buttery taste that can come from oak. The whole fermentation process takes a short time, and the wine is meant to be drunk young.
This palest of pale pink rosés is Domaines OTT, Chateau de Selle. It is primarily Grenach grapes with Cinsault and Mourvèdre to add fruitiness and softness. Domaines OTT produces the most famous and some of the most expensive rosés, with the top price being around $50.00. Domaines OTT has three locations in the area, each providing a different twist on the making of rosé based upon the specific terroir (there’s that word again) of the area where the grapes are grown. Their Chateau Romassan is made in the Bandol region in the Var where the mix of soil is sandstone, limestone, and marl. Their Clos Mireille is made on the Mediterranean coast where the soil has no limestone.
Just as a side line to the wines of Provence and to let you know about some of the 10% of wines produced there that are not rosés, let’s talk about Bandol. Bonnard lived in Le Cannet in the hills above the nearby city of Cannes, and the Bandol area is just to the west in the Department of the Var. However, Bandol wines and the way they are processed are well known in the whole Côte de Provence area. The grape used in Bandol is the Mourvèdre, which is a black-skinned grape that is high in sugar. The wine is aged in oak barrels for about 18 months, which differs from the much quicker process of making rosé. Bandol wine is a dark garnet color but has a velvety tannin giving it a smooth taste that does not bite. That is why this grape is used to tame the flavor of the grenache grapes used in most rosé production.
Well, the seafood doesn’t have to come from the Mediterranean, but a good Côte de Provence rosé is a must. Rosé is a food-friendly wine, so it can be paired with just about anything. It is great as a toast or part of an appetizer, but especially if you serve a sparkling rosé. You can serve cold cuts and soft cheeses, roast chicken or duck, spring lamb, seafood, and fish, especially a fatty fish like salmon. Serve the rosé chilled at 50 to 60 degrees fahrenheit and enjoy.
Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.
©marjorie vernelle 2021
Coming Soon: Man in the Red Turban and Riesling, the Great Summer Wine.
There he is, one of the greatest oil painters in history, and he lived in the 1400s! Jan Van Eyck was so well-known that the Duke of Burgundy used him on diplomatic missions, where the painter would arrive at a foreign court to paint but also to deliver messages. His painting, the Ghent Altarpiece, was the prize that the film Monument Men was centered around, as the brigade of art-loving soldiers worked to keep Europe’s art treasures from being destroyed by Hitler’s regime. Van Eyck was from Bruges, an area much in love with Riesling wine.