Pierre Bonnard, painter, illustrator, printmaker and decorator, has come to be regarded as one of the greatest artists of the modern era. He was a founder in the 1890s of the circle of experimental Parisian artists known as the Nabis, which included the painters Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis and Paul Serusier and the sculptor Aristide Maillol. Bonnard had an unrivalled talent for depicting still lifes, landscapes, figures, and domestic interiors with luminous intensity and evocative melancholy. He was influenced by Paul Gauguin and the Impressionists and, like these painters, saw the world in terms of vivid colour and rich surface pattern. For Bonnard, art was a deeply personal means of expression. His light-filled, rainbow-drenched images of meditations on sensuality, intimacy, sorrow and self-discovery. The scholar Antoine Terrasse, Bonnard's great-nephew, explores his art and his world, from the first ambitious still-life studies and charming domestic scenes to the powerful late self-portraits. This little treasure-box of a book illustrates over 180 paintings, drawings, poster designs, letters and photographs from Bonnard's life and work, and offers new insights into one of the most complex and enigmatic artists of the 20th century.
