Artwork
The Dining Room, Vernonnet
The Dining Room, Vernonnet is an oil painting by the Post-Impressionist artist Pierre Bonnard. It dates from 1916 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition emphasizes the interplay between the figure and her environment, with vibrant colors and patterns suggesting a lively yet intimate setting.
The Dining Room, Vernonnet depicts an interior scene centered on a woman seated at a table, surrounded by floral arrangements and domestic objects. The composition emphasizes the interplay between the figure and her environment, with vibrant colors and patterns suggesting a lively yet intimate setting. The presence of flowers and the woman’s relaxed posture may symbolize domesticity and the quiet beauty of everyday life.
The work’s focus on interior space and personal moments reflects Bonnard’s interest in capturing the ephemeral qualities of light and atmosphere within the home.
Technique & Style
Created in 1916, The Dining Room, Vernonnet is an oil painting executed on a canvas support. The work measures 95.3 cm in height and 145.4 cm in width. As an oil-on-canvas piece, it depicts a domestic interior scene featuring a dining room, a woman, and flowers.
The painting is part of the Jacques Gelman collection and was later exhibited as part of the Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. The medium of oil paint allows for the characteristic handling and color application associated with the artist's style during this period, capturing the intimate atmosphere of the Vernonnet setting.
History & Provenance
Pierre Bonnard created the oil painting The Dining Room, Vernonnet in 1916. The work, executed on canvas, measures 95.3 cm in height and 145.4 cm in width. It depicts a woman and flowers within a dining room setting.
The painting was previously owned by Jacques Gelman, who included it in his significant collection of twentieth-century modern art. This provenance was highlighted when the work was exhibited as part of the Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. The piece is currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Pierre Bonnard's 1916 oil painting, The Dining Room, Vernonnet, is part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work, which depicts a dining room scene featuring a woman and flowers, was previously owned by Jacques Gelman. Its institutional history includes a significant exhibition titled "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," where it was displayed as part of this notable private assemblage before or during its acquisition by the museum. The painting measures 95.3 cm in height and 145.4 cm in width.
Overview
Pierre Bonnard's The Dining Room, Vernonnet (1916) captures an intimate domestic scene within the artist's home in Normandy. The composition centers on a dining table where a young girl in a yellow dress sits, surrounded by the still-life details of a meal, including plates, a teapot, and a bowl of fruit. Standing near the fireplace is a woman in a dark dress, anchoring the vertical space of the room.
The interior is defined by walls painted in a warm, enveloping pink, which interacts with the natural light filtering through the space to create a luminous atmosphere. Bonnard employs his characteristic technique of layering translucent oil paints to build up color and texture, avoiding sharp outlines in favor of vibrating patches of hue that dissolve the boundary between objects and their surroundings. Created during the First World War, this work reflects the artist's retreat into private life and his sustained exploration of the interior as a site of sensory richness.
The painting exemplifies Bonnard's mature style, where the mundane acts of daily living are elevated through a complex orchestration of light and color, prioritizing the subjective experience of the moment over strict perspectival realism.
Artist & collection
Artist
Pierre Bonnard was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color.
