Dining Room on the Garden, by Pierre Bonnard
A painting influenced by the style of Paul Gauguin
Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) qualified as a barrister in Paris in 1889 but his main interest was in art, having already enrolled in the Académie Julian in 1887. While there he was encouraged by Paul Sérusier to adopt a style of painting that used pure colour in flat areas with strong outlines, as developed by Paul Gauguin. Bonnard became a member of the “Nabis brotherhood” of painters (Nabi being Hebrew for “prophet”), led by Sérusier and which included Maurice Denis and Edouard Vuillard, that was devoted to this approach as an alternative to Impressionism.
Bonnard was also attracted to the simple formalism of Japanese art, which in turn led him to explore the possibilities of decorative art in media such as ceramics, furniture, fans, theatrical scenery and posters. It was Bonnard’s success in the last of these fields that inspired Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to devote his energies in that direction.
The Nabis brotherhood split up in 1900, with Bonnard and Vuillard being less interested in the mystical and symbolist preoccupations of their fellow members. They preferred…