Breakfast Room > Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard was a French painter who first studied at the Academie Julian in Paris. In his twenties, Bonnard joined a group of artists known as the Nabis (a Hebrew term meaning ""prophet""), who were interested in evoking a feeling through form and colour. After 1900, he devoted his art to the careful scrutiny of nature. His unique style consisting of high colour, rhythmically broken brushwork, softened contours and odd perspectives evolved at this point in his career. Bonnard was best known for his colour-strewn interiors, classically posed nudes and penetrating self-portraits. His cheerful, mocking, scenes of everyday life contrast sharply with his complex nude portraits of his mistress Marthe, who would later become his wife. Bonnard became the most distinguished upholder of the Impressionist movement. He used a rich variety of media to express his creativity. Apart from his paintings, he created posters, produced sets of lithographs, designed furniture and stained glass, and painted screens and stage settings.