The Dining Room (Primary Title)
Pierre Bonnard, French, 1867 - 1947 (Artist)
In 1926, Bonnard and his partner, Marthe, acquired Le Bosquet, a small house in Le Cannet, on the French Riviera. This modest dwelling and its small garden became one of the artist's principal sources of inspiration during the later period of his career. When the house flooded with sunlight during the day, Bonnard could continue his career-long experiments in transposing the effect of light into colors, shapes, and textures. The luminous symphony of reds and yellows that dominate this painting commemorates the rays of light that burst across his dining room wall as the sun set on summer evenings. Rather than painting in imitation of the motif, he made sketches or took photographs of his environment to serve as the basis for his compositions. In his studio, he embellished the original image with tonal and formal elaborations that corresponded to the impressions of the scene he remembered most vividly. The sharpness of detail and heavy tonal contrasts of the serving dishes covering the dining table capture the viewer's attention. Meanwhile, Marthe and the objects in the foreground are rendered in a rather vague and evanescent manner. Bonnard’s representation of the global field of vision illustrates his interest in integrating optical effects and photographic parallels into his painting techniques.
2019-2021: Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, February 2 - May 5, 2019; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, April 4, 2020 - January 10, 2021
2018: "Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", The Frick Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, March 17 - July 15, 2018; Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, June 22 - September 22, 2019
2016-2017: “Pierre Bonnard,” MNBAQ, Québec, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, October 6, 2016 – January 15, 2017
2009: Pierre Bonnard, Late Still Lifes, Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 26 - April 19, 2009
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.
Rotterdam 1952-53 [as listed in "Pierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors"]
Paris 1947, no. 94 [as listed in "Pierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors"]
New York 1965, no. 26, ill. [as listed in "Pierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors"]
Curator’s Talk: The Reinstallation of the Mellon Collection
1:14:33The collection of European paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts given by Paul and Rachel Mellon constitute an essential facet of the museum’s identity. Dr. Sylvain Cordier, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art, discusses the reinstallation of the Mellon Collection.
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