Portrait of Ambroise Vollard with a cat
Pierre Bonnard, 1924
Image not available: work still under copyright
Bonnard often painted Ambroise Vollard, the art dealer who appears in many of his portraits. In this oil on canvas, dated to around 1924, Vollard sits in a corner of a room surrounded by works of art: several paintings hanging on the walls, a sculpture and, on his lap, a small cat. Paintings by Cézanne and Renoir can be made out in the background, which evokes the world of collecting and dealing in which the sitter worked. The composition centres on Vollard's hunched figure, his head slightly tilted, an attitude that conveys a certain drowsiness. He was known to doze off easily when sitting still, and the cat was reportedly a device to keep him awake during the sittings. Rather than a formal likeness, the picture offers a glimpse of a well-known man in his everyday surroundings, with the interior and its objects playing an essential part in the scene.
- Painter
- Pierre Bonnard
- Date
- 1924
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 96 × 111 cm
- Museum
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris, Paris
- Genre
- portrait
- Depicts
- cat, Ambroise Vollard