Like William Bouguereau, who was Bonnat's contemporary and reputed rival, Bonnat was elected to the Academie and became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Among his students were Raoul Dufy, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (who the older artist reputedly did not care for). In 1905, Bonnat became Directeur of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.