Pierre Bonnard: Nature morte (1939)

“A scintillating vision of the domestic everyday, Nature morte from 1939 embodies the expressive possibilities of light and color. A superlative example of Pierre Bonnard’s late still lifes, the present work dates to the year in which the artist permanently relocated to the Côte d’Azur as a consequence of the Second World War and subsequently experimented with his most radically vibrant palettes. Nature morte typifies the revolutionary vitalization of still life scenes that positions Bonnard as among the greatest twentieth-century pioneers of this genre…Communicating a potent dialogue between forms, Nature morte evinces Bonnard’s radical approach to spatial design. The voluminous modeling of the fruit contradicts the surrounding interior, whose myriad juxtaposing patterns defy a fixed sense of perspective. Instead of recessing towards a vanishing…