The Green Blouse (1919) by Pierre Bonnard
Meaning and Interpretation of
French Colourist Painting
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The Green Blouse (1919) by Pierre Bonnard
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The Green Blouse (1919)Contents • Description Name: The Green Blouse (1919)
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ART EVALUATION
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Analysis of The Green Blouse by Pierre BonnardOne of the best-known Post-Impressionist painters in France, Pierre Bonnard achieved success relatively early as a founder member, with Paul Serusier (1864-1927), of Les Nabis and afterwards, with Edouard Vuillard (1869-1940), as an exponent of Intimism, a style of Post-Impressionist painting that focused on domestic interiors. The Green Blouse dates from his Intimist period and is an excellent example of Bonnard's affinity for colour, decoration and light. (See also: The Terrace at Vernon, 1939.) Although Bonnard painted from memory, he also used notes to recall his subjects. His observations, many of them consisting of a single word only, were sufficient to recall the light: 'it's enough to remind one of all that happened that day', Bonnard said. The Green Blouse is a reconstruction of a remembered moment - a moment that had been perceived from the outset in pictorial terms. 'The main subject is the surface which has its colour, its laws, over and above those of the objects'. The palm-trees visible through the window at left indicate that this is one of Bonnard's southern landscapes, and beyond the trees is the deep blue of the Mediterranean itself. The southern sky illuminates the interior of the room, in which a table-top glows with tints of crimson. Facing the viewer is the figure of Marthe, the artist's wife, who first met Bonnard in 1893. Her real name was Maria Boursin, but she preferred the more stylish 'Marthe de Merigny'. Bonnard adored her, despite her reclusive, neurotic nature which drove his friends away, and he painted her repeatedly during the half-century of their lives together. Bonnard never allowed Marthe to age in his paintings and here she scarcely looks her fifty years.
In one of his sketchbook notes Bonnard expressed the idea that 'a figure should be part of the background against which it is placed', and in The green Blouse, the hair, face and neck of Marthe are painted in the same warm yellows and golds as the curtain behind her. Only her eyes provide a contrast. Painted in a strong blue, they stare fixedly forward. Marthe is alone with her thoughts. Her level gaze draws attention to the dominant verticals of the upper section of the painting. |
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Food - the simple food prepared and served in the home - is an important and repeated element in Bonnard's iconography. In front of Marthe is a bowl full of ripe apples. The dish of fruit looks scrumptious, the apples so red and juicy. Through many previous works, Bonnard has established that for him fruit is sensual: it is an erotic symbol. By placing the fruit directly below the woman's figure, making it almost a mirror image of her, Bonnard tells us, with typical wit and grace, how attractive she is to him. A member of the Paris School, Bonnard made an important contribution to Post-Impressionism but remained essentially a colourist to the end of his life.
• Symbolism
(c.1886-1900) • Post-Impressionism
in Germany (c.1880-1910) • Post-Impressionism
in Holland (c.1880-1920) • Cloisonnism
(Flourished 1888-1894) • Synthetism
(c.1888-1894) |
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• For the meaning of other works of colourism, see: Homepage.
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