Lilac summers, apricot-yellow rooms, azure seas. Idylls in which time seems eternal. The major exhibition of spring 2025 introduced visitors to Pierre Bonnard, an early 20th-century French artist who created his own colourful universe as the world around him was on fire. Visitors also got to meet several Nordic artists who were inspired by Bonnard's enigmatic and unique paintings.
Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) was one of the twentieth century’s most influential artists. In iridescent images, he captured the world around him: his home, family, garden, bustling streets, and the view on the ocean from his window. His paintings are more than shimmering idylls, though. They also contain puzzlingly ambiguous details that can be interpreted in multiple ways against the backdrop of the era’s disquiet and war.
The exhibition Bonnard and the Nordics offered new perspectives on Pierre Bonnard’s life and work. Visitors could accompany the Frenchman from his debut as a poster artist who depicted modern life in Paris in the late 1800s, to his years painting vibrant and intimate interpretations of daily life and the landscape in the southeast of France, in Normandy, and on the French Riviera, where Bonnard spent the last two decades of his life. Bonnard lived from 1867 to 1947 and is often seen as an artist who charted his own course, unaffected by the many -isms of modern art.
Pierre Bonnard’s life partner Marthe makes regular appearances in the artist’s work. The exhibition introduced Marthe Bonnard as an individual and highlighted her impact on Bonnard’s creative endeavours. Visitors got to admire several of her own, rare works – signed ‘Marthe Solange’.
Pierre Bonnard, Nude in an interior, 1935. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Pierre Bonnard, Jeunes filles à la mouette, 1917. Oil on canvas. Petit Palais, musée des beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris.
Pierre Bonnard, Interior with a Woman in a Wicker Chair 1920. Oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum
Pierre Bonnard, The Dining Room, Vernon, c. 1925. Glyptoteket, Copenhagen.
Pierre Bonnard, Stairs in the Artist's Garden (1942/1944). National Gallery of Art, Washington
Pierre Bonnard, Fenêtre ouverte sur la Seine, 1912. Oil on canvas. Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret, Nice.
Pierre Bonnard, Nude in Counter-Light. Oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum
Pierre Bonnard, Under the Tree, 1915. Photo: Christies, New York
Marthe Solange/Bonnard, Coupe de fruits sur la chaise rouge. Private collection, Paris. Photo: Yves Inchiermann/Musée Bonnard.
Edvard Munch, The Wedding of the Bohemian, 1927. Munchmuseet, Oslo. Photo: Munchmuseet, Oslo.
Ellen Thesleff, Decorative Landscape, 1910. Finnish National Gallery. Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Yehia Eweis.
Ragnar Sandberg, Early Morning, 1934. Göteborgs Konstmuseum. Photo: Hossein Sehatlou/Göteborgs konstmuseum.
Inspiring the Nordic countries
Bonnard had a significant influence on his peers, both during his lifetime and after his death. This was the case not least in Scandinavia: in 1939, a major exhibition of Bonnard's work opened its doors in Oslo, Gothenburg and Stockholm. It was the biggest to be held outside of France up until then. In Sweden, Bonnard became a source of inspiration for the so-called Gothenburg Colourists. Seeing Bonnard’s work left an impression on artists like Ragnar Sandberg, Karin Parrow and Ivan Ivarson. In Finland, Bonnard’s art played a key role for the Septem Group, of which artists like Magnus Enckell and Ellen Thesleff were a part. This exhibition also aimed at exploring the unique relation between Bonnard’s psychologically multi-faceted painting and the imagery of Norwegian Edvard Munch.
Through Bonnard’s paintings, visitors could both discover unexpected aspects of Scandinavian art and see the Frenchman himself in a new light.
Extensive and multi-faceted
The exhibition featured more than a hundred works by Bonnard, including key paintings on loan from institutions like Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington
Besides art by Pierre Bonnard himself, the exhibition also included work by Nils Dardel, Magnus Enckell, Thorvald Erichsen, Hans Finne-Grønn, Harald Giersing, Åke Göransson, Ivan Ivarson, Arne Kavli, Ragnvald Magnusson, Nils Nilsson, Vera Nilsson, Yrjö Ollila, Karin Parrow, Ragnar Sandberg, Inge Schiöler, Marthe Solange/Bonnard, Henrik Sörensen, Ellen Thesleff, and Astri Welhaven Heiberg.
Swedish-Norwegian partnership
Bonnard and the Nordics was created in partnership with the Lillehammer Art Museum, where it will be on display from 15 June to 19 October 2025.
Thank you!
The exhibition received generous support from Dr Herbert and Anne-Marie Lembcke’s Ad Infinitum foundation.