The Open Window (Primary Title)
Pierre Bonnard, French, 1867 - 1947 (Artist)
A famous series of open windows by his friend Henri Matisse influenced Bonnard in his choice of subject. In fact, he himself owned one of the finest of them. An example of a window painting by Matisse, also in the Mellon collection, allows the visitor a close comparison of these two artists. Whereas Matisse was more concerned to establish relationships of shapes within a tightly woven formal structure, Bonnard freely arranged unrelated forms across the canvas and enlivened them with curlicue brushstrokes and imaginative, highly keyed colors.
signed Bonnard in lower left corner
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
2018-2020: "Gallery Takeover: European Masterpieces from the Mellon Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, March 1, 2018 - March 1, 2020
1966: “French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., March 17-May 1, 1966.
1966: “French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., March 17-May 1, 1966.
©artist or artist’s estate
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