The late work of Pierre Bonnard (1867

Illuminating a painter of light: Old enough to know impressionists like Monet and Renoir, yet young enough to be
Bonnard in 1944,
at his home near
Cannes where he
painted most of
his late works
influenced by cubism, surrealism and cinema, Bonnard is difficult to categorise. Unique qualities of his works therefore
pose new challenges for art history in identifying their pictorial structures and strategies. His paintings also contain
many curiosities, such as hidden figures. Yet, despite universal acknowledgement as one of the major artists of his time,
serious debates around Bonnard’s work have been slow to emerge and more work is needed.
Approaching art as a mode of thinking: Visual art has a pictorial intelligence that can present thoughts, even a
philosophy. This project considers Bonnard as engaged in a metaphysics that attempts to expand his vision. He adopts various imagined points of view – sometimes that of his wife Marthe, of an
infant, or even of inanimate objects.
Reverie as artistic method: It is well known that Bonnard worked
from memory, and this project emphasises Bonnard’s use of memory,
reverie, the unconscious, and the body, as part of his attempts to enlarge
experience. In this regard, Bonnard’s art presents a philosophy comparable
to that proposed by the French thinker Henri Bergson (1859-1941). The late work of Pierre Bonnard
(1867-1947):Perception, reverie, and thinking with her body Lucy Whelan
DPhil candidate
History of Art A career in two parts: As a young artist in 1890’s Paris, Bonnard mixed in avantgarde circles and was part of a group called the Nabis, followers of Gauguin. His
art changed around 1913, as he withdrew from Paris. His late works turn
repeatedly to the subject of his wife Marthe around their home. A new kind of gaze in the history of
art?: The history of art is often understood
as one of male artists painting female
models with an objectifying, detached ‘male 1930-1 gaze’. By contrast, Bonnard repeatedly painted his wife Marthe with a tender vision
that seems dependent upon her, even to identify with her. In what ways might
Bonnard’s vision be said to be governed by ‘feminine’ principles? And is Marthe’s body
essential to his painterly philosophy? This project also looks at Marthe as an individual,
and examines the paintings she made and exhibited in the 1920s.
1936
Funded by the Cecil Lubbock Memorial Scholarship of Trinity College
lucy.whelan@trinity.ox.ac.uk w www.oxford.academia.edu/LucyWhelan