Art Of The Day Weekly
#538 - from 10 January 2019 to 16 January 2019
Pierre Bonnard, The Studio with Mimosas, 1939-46. Oil paint on canvas, 1275 x 1275 mm. Musée National d'Art Moderne -Centre Pompidou Photo (C) Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais
Bonnard, the master of color
LONDON – In 1912, Bonnard was already 45 years old. At that age, most artists have already completed their itinerary. Not he, as a mater of fact this is the point of departure of this retrospective, which intends to replicate the outstanding success of the exhibit in 1998, and its 276 000 visitors at the Tate Gallery. He still had 35 years to live and he would dedicate them to his muse, color (if we put aside Marthe, the solitary woman with whom he lived and whom he married late in life, or his passing mistresses). The former Nabi, former Impressionist, made this his primary battle, trying to equal- at a distance- his friend Matisse. Landscapes of France or Italy, nudes and intimate scenes, still lives: his brushes dripped with pigments and would strongly influence the American painters in the post-war period, Rothko, Milton Avery or Philip Guston.
• Pierre Bonnard. The Colour of Memory at the Tate Modern, from 23 January to 6 May 2019.