Bonnard, Pierre

* October 13, 1867 - † January 23, 1947

biography

Bonnard was born on October 13, 1867 in Fontenay-aux-Roses, the son of a civil servant. In addition to studying law, which he pursued between 1886 and 1889, he was enrolled at the Académie Julian, where he made the acquaintance of the painters Denis, Ibels, Ranson and Sérusier. He studied for another year at the École des Beaux-Arts and met Vuillard and Roussel there. After selling a poster design for "France-Champagne" in 1889, he shared a studio with Vuillard and Denis in 1890 and was a co-founder of the symbolist artist group "Nabis", from which he soon separated. Bonnard exhibited at the “Salon des Indépendants” for the first time this year and met Toulouse-Lautrec shortly afterwards. In 1905 he undertook a trip to Spain with Vuillard, which was followed in the coming years by trips to Belgium, Holland, England, Italy, Algeria, Tunisia and southern France. In 1925, Bonnard finally bought a house in Le Cannet, southern France, where he lived until his death on January 23, 1947. The main motifs of Bonnard, who was fascinated by Japanese woodcuts, included landscapes, flower gardens, sailing boats and the female nude. He was particularly fascinated by Gaugin's pictures and is one of the Impressionist painters because of the strong proportion of light in his works, although he was Basically realized his own style, which goes in the symbolist direction.