Lot Essay
Like his friend Vuillard, Bonnard found beauty in his domestic surroundings and became a painter of intimité, declaring "Tout ce qu'on voit ne vous transporte pas de joie. On est frappé par des rapports très agréables que les peintres saisissent et casent dans leur peinture. Car on peut extraire de la beauté de tout" (see D. Sutton, Bonnard, London, 1957, p. 6).
As is seen in Le petit Déjeuner, Bonnard employed a dark tonality in his early interiors, enlivened by areas of bright colour. Thus the lady's head is silhouetted against the window, which throws light on the face of her companion. The pivotal inclusion of the tea-cup illustrates John Rewald's comment "Insensitive to what has been called the "hierarchy" of objects, [Bonnard] observed them all with the same warmth and delight, treated them as what they were to him: pictorial elements the importance of which depended upon their colour and form, their place in his composition" (Pierre Bonnard, Exh.Cat, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1965, p. 3).
The present work also reflects Bonnard's interest in Japanese art, partly inspired by the exhibition organised by Siegfried Bing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1890, and which earned him the nickname "Le Nabi Japonard". The bold composition of the window frame and the positioning of the viewer clearly show the influence of Japanese prints, in particular their treatment of surface decoration and conception of perspective. Bonnard acquired modestly priced examples from the Grands Magasins, and explained to Gaston Diehl "c'est là que je trouvais pour un ou deux sous des crêpons ou des papiers de riz froissés aux couleurs étonnantes. Je remplis les murs de ma chambre de cette imagerie naive et criarde. Gauguin, Sérusier se réfèrènt en fait au passé. Mais là ce que j'avais devant moi c'était quelque chose de bien vivant, d'extrémement savant" (see A. Terrasse, Pierre Bonnard, Paris, 1967, p. 24).
As is seen in Le petit Déjeuner, Bonnard employed a dark tonality in his early interiors, enlivened by areas of bright colour. Thus the lady's head is silhouetted against the window, which throws light on the face of her companion. The pivotal inclusion of the tea-cup illustrates John Rewald's comment "Insensitive to what has been called the "hierarchy" of objects, [Bonnard] observed them all with the same warmth and delight, treated them as what they were to him: pictorial elements the importance of which depended upon their colour and form, their place in his composition" (Pierre Bonnard, Exh.Cat, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1965, p. 3).
The present work also reflects Bonnard's interest in Japanese art, partly inspired by the exhibition organised by Siegfried Bing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1890, and which earned him the nickname "Le Nabi Japonard". The bold composition of the window frame and the positioning of the viewer clearly show the influence of Japanese prints, in particular their treatment of surface decoration and conception of perspective. Bonnard acquired modestly priced examples from the Grands Magasins, and explained to Gaston Diehl "c'est là que je trouvais pour un ou deux sous des crêpons ou des papiers de riz froissés aux couleurs étonnantes. Je remplis les murs de ma chambre de cette imagerie naive et criarde. Gauguin, Sérusier se réfèrènt en fait au passé. Mais là ce que j'avais devant moi c'était quelque chose de bien vivant, d'extrémement savant" (see A. Terrasse, Pierre Bonnard, Paris, 1967, p. 24).