Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)

French artist

The French artist Pierre Bonnard was born on 13 October 1867 in Fontenay-aux-Roses. He studied law at the Sorbonne in Paris from 1885 to 1887.
Bonnard studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the Academy Julian in Paris. He was enthusiastic about Paul Gauguin's paintings.

Eduard Vuillard and Maurice Denis

In 1890 Pierre Bonnard worked in a group studio in Paris with Eduard Vuillard and Maurice Denis. He founded the "Nabis" group of symbolist artists together with Denis, Paul Sérusier, and Edouard Vuillard. Bonnard took part in the group's first exhibition in the Salon des Indépendants in 1891.

Parisian life

Pierre Bonnard painted a series based on Parisian life and produces illustrations to accompany contemporary poetry for the journal La Revue Blanche (1891-1894). For the poems by Paul Verlaine he produced illustrations in 1900. In 1902 he made lithographs for Daphnis and Chloë.

Nude against the Light

From 1903 on he regularly exhibits in the Salon d'Automne. Pierre Bonnard traveled to the Netherlands, Great Britain, Spain, Italy and North Africa. Bonnard painted his famous "Nude against the Light" in 1908.
An important retrospective was held at Druet in Paris in 1924. In 1930 Pierre Bonnard moved to Le Cannet in 1930.
Pierre Bonnard died on 23 January 1947 in Le Cannet.

Great colorist

Bonnard is now recognized as a great colorist and a constructor of subtle composition in which meaning is delivered through apparently transparent, ordinary subjects.