The Open Window
Pierre Bonnard, 1921
Image not available: work still under copyright
Pierre Bonnard painted this interior scene in 1921, and its composition pulls the eye toward the outside. Blues and greens of the landscape beyond the window contrast with the reddish oranges of the room, so attention drifts away from the lower right corner, where a black cat and a woman sit. It takes a while to find the woman's head in the chair: her hair shares the pale blue of the upholstery, and her face has the same red as the wall. This barely suggested presence, almost like a figure in a dream, became a feature of the inside-outside views Bonnard painted in the 1930s. The woman is believed to be his wife, Marthe de Meligny, though it may also be Renée Monchaty, with whom he became involved around 1917. Painted from memory rather than from life, the work shows a room in the artist's house in Normandy, and the open window works as a image of longing for the world outside.
- Painter
- Pierre Bonnard
- Date
- 1921
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 118 × 96 cm
- Museum
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.