Exhibition: Bonnard’s Worlds
Exhibition
Pierre Bonnard, Dining Room on the Garden, 1935, Oil on canvas, 50 x 53 1/4 in., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift © 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
The Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street NW
Washington, DC, US 20009
March 2, 2024 - June 2, 2024
Immerse yourself in a journey into the creative process of one of the most prolific French painters of the 20th century.
From March 2 to June 2, the Philipps Collection in Washington DC, in partnership with Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, will host their first Bonnard’s Worlds exhibition in twenty years in DC.
Exhibition
Delve into the rich realms of the painter, as the exhibition focuses on the sensory spheres of experience that nourished Pierre Bonnard’s work. Featuring sixty masterpieces from prominent European and American museums and prestigious private collections worldwide, the exhibition is organized with a measure of intimacy, transporting visitors through the landscapes of Paris, Normandy, and the French Riviera, towards the painter’s most cherished dwellings and thoughts.
From the first more decorative-style gardens to impressionistic views of nature, Bonnard’s canvases come alive. As several interior paintings present views from outside through doors or windows, explore the artist’s symbiotic relationship between the interior and exterior. Bonnard also explored spaces dedicated to social encounters, from the dining room to the parlor, where the viewers can experience his sense of stillness, punctuated by an intensity of feeling. Highlights include depictions of Bonnard’s lifelong muse, Marthe de Méligny Bonnard. Among the most private images, a series of paintings of her in the bathtub, from 1936 to 1946 are exposed. These are some of Bonnard’s most celebrated depictions of the subject.
The Artist
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) defied categorization. He is a founding member of the Nabis, a group of impressionist painters. He is often perceived as a bridge between impressionism and modernism, as he was a close friend of both Monet and Matisse. Bonnard’s paintings invite viewers into a realm of bold colors where scenes flow organically, seeking to capture what the painter called the “first sensation”.
The Phillips Collection and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth
This exhibition is organized by the Phillips Collections and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and curated by Elsa Smithgall, Chief Curator of The Phillips Collection, and George Shackelford, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of The Kimbell Art Museum. The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalog co-published by The Kimbell Art Museum and The Phillips Collection in association with Yale University Press.
In partnership with
La Maison Française
Unique among French diplomatic missions, La Maison Française at the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C., offers an environment that encourages friendly relations between states, promotes outreach and cultural events, and serves as a center for professional and educational activities.
The Phillips Collection
The Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art, was opened in 1921 in historic Dupont Circle in Washington, DC, by collector and philanthropist Duncan Phillips.
Kimbell Art Museum
The Kimbell Art Museum is located in Fort Worth, Texas. The museum collection consists of over 350 works that not only epitomize their periods and movements but also touch individual high points of aesthetic beauty and historical importance.