Pierre Bonnard Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria

On June 27, we went to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Australia’s oldest public art museum, to see its exhibition on the French post-Impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947). Here’s a quick primer: “Eight Essentials to Know About Pierre Bonnard.” And the description from the NGV’s website: “Opening in June 2023, the blockbuster Melbourne Winter Masterpieces® exhibition Pierre Bonnard presents the iridescent paintings of Bonnard within immersive scenography by Paris-based designer India Mahdavi.”

At the entrance to the NGV is the Waterwall, a water curtain flowing down a stained-glass ceiling.

Bonnard was a member of a group of late 19th-century artists who called themselves the Nabis, from the Hebrew נביא (navi), meaning prophet. Like other members of the group, he was influenced by Japanese prints and woodcuts. I think you can see this influence in the first two pictures below.

Below is Bonnard’s Nannies’ Promenade (1897), a decorative screen showing carriages with nannies and children. As in Japanese screens, the action is read from right to left.

Bonnard is known for his use of color and is considered one of the greatest “colorists” of modern art.

Bonnard also liked to paint domestic interiors.

The painting below shows Bonnard’s sister, her baby, and (in the lower right-hand corner) the bespectacled artist and uncle Bonnard himself.

One of the really interesting things about the exhibition is that it included Bonnard’s photography. I didn’t realize that he was an early photographer as well as a painter. Below are family photographs of Bonnard and his children.

Below is Bonnard’s aptly titled L’Après-midi bourgeoise, ou La Famille Terrasse (Bourgeois afternoon, or the Terrasse family, 1900).

Below is Bonnard’s La Place Clichy (1912).

Bonnard is famous for his nudes, mainly of his principal model and later wife (they married in 1925) Marthe de Méligny.

The picture below gives you a sense of India Mahdavi’s amazing scenography.

 Below is some other artwork, contemporary and ancient, we saw at the National Gallery of Victoria.

A view of the Melbourne skyline and Yarra River.

More art! Spirits of the Land, a newly commissioned artwork by the Aboriginal artist Aunty Zeta Thomson, was projected onto the facade of Melbourne’s Hamer Hall.