French
b. 1867, Fontenay aux Roses, France —
d. 1947, Le Bosquet, on the French Riviera

Pierre Bonnard was inspired by the impressionists, including the painters Paul Gaugin, Jean Renoir and Toulouse Lautrec. Along with paintings, Bonnard also illustrated books, created posters, designed textiles, and theatrical sets. Bonnard practiced law briefly, but decided early on to pursue a career as an artist. As a young man he was a member of Les Nabis, a group of young, post-impressionist artists who utilized bold, bright colors.

Though Les Nabis was rather short-lived as a group, Bonnard carried on with their love of vivid, sun-splashed colors for the rest of his long life. He exhibited his work along with other works by Les Nabis at the Salon des Indépendants in 1891. His paintings are often brightly lit interiors, landscapes, still lifes, windows that peer out on gardens blossoming in the sunshine of the South of France, and vessels full of fruit and flowers. Bonnard’s first one-man exhibit was in 1896 at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. An exhibit of his Late Interiors was shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2009.

Bonnard’s paintings and other artworks are represented in museums around the world and in private and corporate collections as well.