Pierre Bonnard

Nude in the Bath and Small Dog
1941-46
oil on canvas
48 x 59 1/2 "











Pierre Bonnard painted the magical in the everyday. His paintings are windows into a world that seems only likely to exist in the imagination. The nude is a recurring subject for Bonnard, especially those painted in the bathtub. In the painting, Nude in the Bath and Small Dog, above, the bathtub melts into the wall, which melts into the floor which all swirl around Marthe, Bonnard’s wife and model, resting peacefully in a small sea of water. The pattern of the tile on the floor becomes the pattern of the larger tile on the wall. The dog, resting on the small square rug in front of the tub acts as an entrance to the painting, all while echoing the pattern of the tile on the wall behind the tub. Bonnard has a gift to give us and that gift is space. He challenges our ideas about it while creating a dream-world we wish we were capable of moving through, even if the world is as ordinary as a bathroom.