Pierre Bonnard is a painter, engraver and one of the great colorists of French descent. His work had an invaluable impact and contributed to modern art and culture as a whole. Although his chronological framework is no longer part of the golden age of French painting, he is undoubtedly part of it.
Pierre Bonnard: biography
The future painter and artist was born 03.10.1867 in Le Cannes, a resort town on the French Riviera.
His father was an official, so there was no question of any art. He wanted his son to receive a law degree, which he studied at the University of Sorbonne. But the young man managed to defend his point of view, so Pierre Bonnard entered the Julian private art academy.
He continued to receive an art education at the Paris School of Fine Arts. It was here that the association of artists "Nabis" was formed, which was headed by Bonnard. In addition to him, Paul Seruzyo Ker-Xavier Roussel and Ambroise Vollard, with whom they became very friends, entered.
Pierre Bonnard even captured it in several of his paintings. Exposing his works at the Salon of Independent Artists in Paris, he met Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.
He traveled a lot, having traveled almost all of Europe and North Africa. Since 1925, he finally settled on the Cote d'Azur in his hometown. He bought a cozy house near the sea, where he continued to actively create.
He had to survive the Nazi occupation, after his release from which he arranged an exhibition of his old works in retrospect.
Pierre Bonnard: works
Among the most famous works of the painter can be distinguished: "White Cat" (1894), "Cherry Pie" (1908), "In the Sunshine" (1908) and many others. He has a whole series of paintings depicting cats and cats. They are frequent heroes on his canvases.
However, one of his most famous paintings, of course, is the already mentioned work, "In the Sunshine." Hood. Pierre Bonnard depicted on this canvas a young naked girl who is standing in her bedroom near the bed. The warm rays of the morning sun warm her body. The artist often created images of completely naked women or in negligee. He was a great connoisseur of female beauty, so he sought to capture it on his canvases.
Another famous work of Pierre Bonnard - "Morning in Paris", which depicts the capital's street. Fussy people are in a hurry somewhere, most of them are half-blurred. By this, the artist wanted to say that in a big city all people merge, lose their individuality.
In his creative piggy bank a huge number of works, but within the framework of this article there is no need to consider all of them.
Art style
This French artist, who created at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, entered the history of art as one of the most outstanding colorists. He was always an opponent of impressionism, because he believed that compositionally their style was greatly underdeveloped, in addition, the color scheme is far from reality.
Pierre Bonnard, whose paintings are saturated with various shades, was distinguished by the fact that he always strove for blurry, even muffled colors. It is believed that he was among the first artists who were able to open and understand the inner world of a woman and her intimate side of life.
He was very fond of painting landscapes of Paris and the Mediterranean coast of France. Towards the end of his creative work, he began to use more saturated colors and create complex compositions.
Personal life of the artist
At the age of 26, Bonnard, as a boy, fell in love with Marta de Meligny, who was engaged in the sale of flowers. His feelings for her were rampant, passionate, but this does not mean that he did not cheat on her.
Martha was his constant model, which he depicted on almost 4 hundred of his canvases. 32 years after they met, they finally became spouses. It was then that he recognized her real name, which he did not previously know. It turned out that the woman's name is Marie Bursin. However, in this story, not everything is so smooth and safe.
Pierre Bonnard (artist) regularly made fleeting contacts on the side, and in 1918 he got a permanent model, who was his mistress. Her name was Rene Monchati. She was so much in love with Pierre that, learning about his marriage to Martha, committed suicide.
Monsati was a model for many of his paintings, in particular, for the canvas "Naked in the Bathroom".
Nabis
As mentioned above, Pierre Bonnard was one of the leaders of the group of artists called Nabis. At the same time, he always emphasized the fact that he did not belong to any direction and course. He constantly strove to show his individuality, to find his own unique style.
Already from the mid 90's. XIX century, he is increasingly beginning to move away from their principles. The propensity for linearity and ornamental nabids no longer interests him. Since then, he has been creating exclusively in "his" style, not ranking himself among any of the famous schools of painting.
Travels
Bonnard traveled a lot, visiting different cities and countries. Biographers and contemporaries of the artist note that although he did not have a shortage of money, the painter never sought to waste. He was very restrained in spending and unpretentious in everyday life. The most important thing for him was that there was enough room for an easel, there were always paints and brushes.
His travels are often accompanied by fellow painters. During his life, he traveled to almost all of Western Europe and North Africa. Among the countries he visited are: Great Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, as well as Spain and Italy. From African states, he visited Algeria and Tunisia, which at that time were French colonies.
In 1926, Pierre Bonnard became a member of the jury of the Carnegie major art award, which took place in the United States. Exactly ten years later, he himself became the owner of this award.
Contribution to Art
Bonnard's works are the beauty and grace of the female body, softness and tenderness of colors, saturation. He received recognition and respect during his lifetime, which not every artist succeeded. But P. Bonnard himself did not care about the huge fees from the sale of paintings, because he was always cold for money.
His paintings had a huge impact on contemporary painting and culture in general. He created countless paintings, most of which are rightfully considered the property of France and the whole world.
Today, the world's largest museums and art lovers are proud if their collection has at least one work by Bonnard. No wonder he is considered a true genius of painting.
Success and recognition
The artist himself spoke of his financial success as follows: "All these zeros annoy me." And indeed it is. He never showed interest in money, did not chase after them and lived rather modestly, even having a huge amount of money.
His paintings are very much appreciated. Many of them are sold for big money at art auctions. During his lifetime, he already sold his works for good money, which for his contemporaries, artists was the ultimate dream.
Today, his work continues to be in considerable demand. He had followers, and connoisseurs and fans of his work still praise the artist and his works.
However, success cannot be measured only by the amount of money. Here, an important role is played by the recognition of people, especially colleagues in the painting industry. However, he also never had problems with this. While still young, he already began to enjoy respect in the eyes of even older and more experienced painters. Over the years, his authority only increased.
Conclusion
Pierre Bonnard, of course, is one of the prominent and prominent artists of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Each of his works is brilliant in its own way. They convey not only the artist’s worldview, but also his attitude to a particular action, person or something.
His contribution to painting is huge, he actually became the last painter of the Golden Age in France. He is a younger contemporary of such great painters as Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, P. Gauguin, as well as many impressionists and post-impressionists.
He, so to speak, closed this era in the history of French art. After him, art not only in his homeland, but throughout the world began to change dramatically. Many new trends and schools appeared, including Picasso, S. Dali, and later E. Warhol, Pollock, etc. It cannot be said that he had a great influence on the work of each artist individually, but he had a considerable number of followers , and many painters today often turn to his motives and technique, creating their works.