Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)
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Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)

Matinée sur les toits

Details
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)
Matinée sur les toits
signed 'Bonnard' (lower centre)
oil on canvas
213/8 x 14 in. (54.5 x 35.5 cm.)
Painted at Le Cannet in 1928
Provenance
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, acquired directly from the Artist in January 1929.
De Freune, Paris.
Duncan Phillips, Washington.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, acquired from the above in 1953.
Galerie Paul Vallotton, Lausanne.
Acquired from the above by the father of the present owner in the 1950s.
Literature
J. & H. Dauberville, Bonnard, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, vol. III, 1920-39, Paris, 1973, no. 1398 (illustrated, p. 320).
Exhibited
Geneva, Musée Rath, Trésors des Collections Romande, June-Oct. 1954, no. 56.
Lausanne, Fondation de l'Hermitage, De Cézanne à Picasso dans les Collections Romandes, June-Oct. 1985, no. 8 (illustrated in colour in the catalogue; titled 'Arachon', dated 1930 and given as 'gouache').
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

Captivated by the luminous colours and radiant light of the Mediterranean, Bonnard spent nearly every summer in the 1920s exploring the coast between Antibes and Saint-Tropez. Favouring the area around Cannes, and particularily the village of Le Cannet, Bonnard finally purchased a villa there in 1926, which he christened 'Le Bosquet'.

Following a visit to Le Bosquet in 1942, Michel Terrasse described the last stage of his journey as follows: 'From the glamorous town of Cannes a gasolene-driven bus took us along the Boulevard Carnot to Le Cannet. Having left our luggage at the Pension Rachel, we climbed on foot between the red-tiled houses. We walked along sunny alley-ways running by the side of fragrant gardens in which lemons and oranges were growing. The light was like an illuminated manuscript as we arrived at the Avenue Victoria. We reached the green garden up a steep incline' (M. Terrasse, Bonnard at Le Cannet, London, 1988, p.19).

Bonnard was inspired by the light and colour which surrounded him at Le Cannet which is clearly seen in his use of vivid yellows, oranges, blues and greens in Matinée sur les toits. Describing the influence of the Côte d'Azur and particularly Le Cannet on Bonnard's work at this time, Michel Terrasse has written: 'Under the blazing sun, with the mistral blowing, his palette caught fire without losing any of its subtlety. A born colourist, he was sensitive not only to burst of colour but equally to the quality of the air, to the vibration, the texture, the perfume of things' (ibid., p. 11).

Matinée sur les toits is painted in Bonnard's favourite compositional formula: viewed as if from a balcony, the rooftops of the village in the middle ground accented by the lush green olive groves beyond with the shimmering mountains of the Alpes-Maritimes looming in the distance.

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