Apple Gathering (Primary Title)
La Cueillette des pommes (Translation)
Pierre Bonnard, French, 1867 - 1947 (Artist)
Apple Gathering is one of four large canvases intended to form an immersive interior decor. Bonnard's direct experience of his immediate environment inspired the subject of this ambitious project. His grandfather's agricultural estate, Le Clos, in the village of Grand-Lemp in southeastern France included a garden, an orchard, and enclosed fields with various farm animals. Bonnard created a workshop in the house to use when he vacationed there each year. Although this painting accords with the general style and theme of the series, it can be appreciated independently. The artist’s free and pronounced brushstrokes, which he consistently employed in all four works to achieve a decorative coherence, leave a visible trace of each gesture on the canvas. Evoking classical low-relief friezes depicting cherubs and nymphs, the two-dimensional and almost monochromatic vegetation ultimately absorbs the apple gatherers, members of Bonnard’s family, in his simplified approach to figuration. Lowering the horizon to his nephews' line of sight as they gather apples, he vertically arranges the distinct planes to imply perspectival depth in the scene, doubtlessly inspired by the compositional conventions of Japanese prints. The four interrelated canvases are today dispersed between Japan (Pola Museum of Art), France (Orsay Museum), and VMFA.
neither signed nor dated
Millennium Gift from the Sara Lee Corporation to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
2021: "Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, 1890-1900", Cleveland Museum f Art, June 27 - September 20, 2021
2019: "The Nabis and the Decors!", Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, March 12 - June 30, 2019
Foundation MAPFRE, Madrid, September 10, 2015 - January 6, 2016
Pierre Bonnard (1867 - 1947), Painting Arcadia, Musee d'Orsay, March 16 - July 19, 2015
2001, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, "Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, and Roussel, 1890–1930,"
2000, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
2000, Portland, Portland Art Museum, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
1999, Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
1999, Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
1999, Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
1971, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 1 - September 7, 1971, "Selections from the Nathan Cummings Collection"
1966-67, Munich, Haus der Kunst (October 8, 1966-January 1, 1967) and Paris, l'Orangerie (January 13-April 15, 1967), "Pierre Bonnard," No. 20
1966, London, Royal Academy, "Pierre Bonnard," January 6- March 6, No. 22
1943, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, "Jardins de France," No. 311 (entitled "Jardin de Provence")
2019: "The Nabis and the Decors!", Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, March 12 - June 30, 2019
Foundation MAPFRE, Madrid, September 10, 2015 - January 6, 2016
Pierre Bonnard (1867 - 1947), Painting Arcadia, Musee d'Orsay, March 16 - July 19, 2015
2001, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, "Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, and Roussel, 1890–1930,"
2000, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
2000, Portland, Portland Art Museum, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
1999, Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
1999, Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
1999, Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, "Monet to Moore: Millenium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation"
1971, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 1 - September 7, 1971, "Selections from the Nathan Cummings Collection"
1966-67, Munich, Haus der Kunst (October 8, 1966-January 1, 1967) and Paris, l'Orangerie (January 13-April 15, 1967), "Pierre Bonnard," No. 20
1966, London, Royal Academy, "Pierre Bonnard," January 6- March 6, No. 22
1943, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, "Jardins de France," No. 311 (entitled "Jardin de Provence")
©artist or artist’s estate
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.