Channelling the woman in the Pierre Bonnard painting

Today I am channelling a painting by French artist Pierre Bonnard. When I dressed this morning, the colour and design of my clothes looked familiar, and I was reminded of Bonnard’s painting.

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), a founding member of the avante-garde painters “Les Nabis” (the group of artists transitioning from impressionism to abstract art in the 1930s). He was noted for his use of strong colours, landscapes, and portraits.

The woman in the spotted dress is part of the painting called “Women in the Garden” (1890-1891) in the Japanese kakemono style, in which she is playing with a dog. The painting is held in the Museum d’Orsay in Paris. However, it was on display in the Les Nabis exhibition at the Museum Luxembourg Garden, which I visited on 13 March 2019.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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