- Museum number
- 1981,0221.1
- Description
-
La Salle à manger, Villa du Bosquet, Le Carnet, France; the dining room with two wine bottles and pieces of crockery on a table, fireplace beyond. c.1940
Graphite, watercolour and bodycolour
- Production date
- 1940 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 466 millimetres
-
Width: 490 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Bonnard made numerous depictions of Le Bosquet, the house above Cannes which he acquired in 1926. The scene is set in the evening, with the electric lights on, and the table laid in the usual way. Bonnard's view-point is from the head of the table. See p.84 of the 1994 Hayward Gallery catalogue for a reconstruction by Sargy Mann of the view as Bonnard saw it. The design of this watercolour is not repeated in any other work by Bonnard. Another larger view of the room with the table is in the Art Institute of Chicago (ibid p.81). Many of the works of Bonnard's last two decades show rooms in the house, often with his wife Marthe, who has been described as his 'muse and gaoler'. She was often in poor health, and much of his life was devoted to looking after her needs.
This watercolour belongs to a group of Bonnard's watercolours and gouaches formerly in the collection of Louis Carré, who published the album of Bonnard's lithographs. Frances Carey sought the advice of Lawrence Gowing at the Slade School of Art before making this purchase.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1984, BM, Master Drawings and Watercolours, no. 201
1987 Apr-May, Norwich, Castle Mus, Art of Watercolour, no. 9
1987 May-Jun, Manchester AG, Art of Watercolour, no. 9
1990 April-Aug, BM, Treasures of P&D, no cat.
1994 Jun-Aug, London, Hayward Gall, Bonnard at Le Bosquet, no. 38
1998 Feb-May, London, Tate Gallery, Pierre Bonnard
1998 June-Sep, New York, MOMA, Pierre Bonnard
2010-11 Oct-April BM, Picasso to Julie Mehretu (no cat.)
- Acquisition date
- 1981
- Acquisition notes
- This item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45. The British Museum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1981,0221.1