Artwork research - 'Nude in the Bath' by Pierre Bonnard

 In this post I will be doing a research regarding one of Pierre Bonnard's paintings - 'Nude in the Bath'.

Pierre Bonnard - 'Nude in the Bath'
121.9cm x 151.1cm

This post-impressionistic painting shows a woman in a bathtub and a dog guarding her. Without any context, we might ask ourselves about the deeper meaning of this piece. Some darker conclusions we could see in the Guardian article from 2019, written by Skye Sherwin.

In this 2019 article Sherwin states, that the woman in fact, is dead, and her pet is guarding and protecting her corpse. This interpretation is starting to make a lot of sense in relation to the style it was painted. This post-impressionistic, dreamy like form of painting creates a certainly melancholic and unreal experience, as if we were to encounter the dead body in this exact moment.  In the Guardian article we can read 'Though the domestic world Bonnard captured was, by its nature, confined, his paintings have the slippery quality of memories and dreams' (Sherwin, 2020). Pierre Bonnard presents in this painting the shock of discovering the dead body of a loved one. It represents created by their love, vividly colourful, world, that just got washed away by the darkness of this tragedy.

To similar conclusions came Deanna MacDonald in her article from the Great Works of Western Art. In her analysis, she explains 'this was not meant as a faithful portrait of Marthe; it is in fact far closer to metaphor or memory, then reality' (MacDonald, ND). Martha was Bonnard's lifelong companion and her image can be seen on almost four hundred of Bonnard's works. To the dreamy image of this artwork adds the technique that the author used to paint it. 'Bonnard rarely painted from life but instead made sketches in a diary, noting things like colour, tone and contrast, which he later worked out in his studio' (MacDonald, ND). 

However, to me, as a photographer, more important than the meaning of his paintings, is the way he was painting them. Probably the most recognizable part of his work is the way he used light and colour in his pieces. 'He could give the sense of bright sunlight outside, as well as artificial light indoors. Colour floods his late works, almost overwhelming the subjects of his paintings.' (TATE, 2020). For me the most crucial aspect of his work, from which every photographer should learn from is the use of bright and intensely saturated colours in a way that is not overwhelming and immature. Bonnard was using very intense and vivid colours in his work in order to create this one of a kind atmosphere of uneasiness and dreamy imagery. 'Pierre Bonnard’s revolutionary and controversial use of color became a means toward unlocking his past and the truths of his own self.' (Delistraty, 2019). 

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Sources:

Sherwin, S., 2019. Pierre Bonnard’S Nude In The Bath: Between A Memory And A Dream. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jan/25/pierre-bonnard-nude-in-the-bath> [Accessed 11 November 2020].

MacDonald, D., ND. Nude In The Bath. [online] Available at: <http://www.worldsbestpaintings.net/artistsandpaintings/painting/25/> [Accessed 11 November 2020].

Tate (ND) Eight Essentials to Know about Pierre Bonnard [Online] Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/pierre-bonnard-781/eight-essentials-know-about-pierre-bonnard (Accessed 11th November 2020)

Delistraty, C., 2019. You’Ll Never Know Yourself: Bonnard And The Color Of Memory. [online] The Paris Review. Available at: <https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/03/13/youll-never-know-yourself-bonnard-and-the-color-of-memory/> [Accessed 14 November 2020].