Nude on the Chair
Pierre Bonnard, 1935
Image not available: work still under copyright
Pierre Bonnard depicts in this oil painting Marthe de Mérigny, his partner and frequent model, standing nude on a white chair after her bath. The scene probably takes place at the artist's home in Arcachon, in a bathroom that Bonnard renders in warm light with few marked shadows, so that the body, the chair and the space seem to merge into soft tones. This attention to colour and to domestic light turns everyday life into the central subject of the work. Decades later, Fernando Botero paid tribute to Bonnard with his own version, titled El baño (1999), which is also shown in the museum. The painting remained in the painter's estate until his death in 1947. It was later acquired by Botero from an anonymous collector in Europe and donated to the Bank of the Republic, together with 207 other works, to form the Museo Botero in Bogotá. Given its significance, the entire collection was recognised as an asset of cultural interest for the nation in 2012.
- Painter
- Pierre Bonnard
- Date
- 1935
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 127 × 97 cm
- Museum
- Botero Museum, Bogotá