Artwork
The Green Blouse
The Green Blouse is an oil painting by the Les Nabis artist Pierre Bonnard. It dates from 1919 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Seated before a yellow curtain is Marthe Bonnard, distinguished by her green blouse; she faces forward, engaging the viewer with a direct gaze.
Executed in 1919, this vertical oil painting functions as a double portrait set within a domestic interior. The composition features two women positioned around a table holding a fruit bowl. On the left margin, a standing figure, identified as a domestic worker, is shown in right profile against a window revealing palm trees.
Seated before a yellow curtain is Marthe Bonnard, distinguished by her green blouse; she faces forward, engaging the viewer with a direct gaze. The work juxtaposes the servant's peripheral presence with the central, confrontational stance of the artist's companion, utilizing the titular garment and surrounding domestic elements to anchor the scene in everyday life while highlighting the distinct roles of the subjects.
Technique & Style
Created in 1919, The Green Blouse is an oil painting executed on canvas support. The work measures 102.1 cm in height and 68.6 cm in width, adopting a vertical format typical of portraiture. Stylistically, the piece functions as a double portrait within a domestic interior, characterized by the artist's use of distinct color fields and specific lighting conditions.
The composition features two women positioned around a table holding a compotier; one figure stands in profile near a window overlooking palm trees, while the seated subject wears a green blouse against a yellow curtain. The handling of the medium emphasizes the interplay between the figures and their surroundings, with the seated woman, identified as Marthe, facing the viewer directly. The painting remains in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has been held since 1963.
History & Provenance
The Green Blouse is an oil‑on‑canvas double portrait painted by Pierre Bonnard in 1919, as recorded in the work’s catalogue entry and confirmed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s documentation. The painting depicts the artist’s wife, Marthe Bonnard, standing at a window and seated in a green blouse before a yellow curtain, a scene described in the French Wikipedia entry. Executed on a canvas measuring 102.1 × 68.6 cm, the work remained in the artist’s circle until it entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection in 1963, where it has been on view ever since. No evidence of a formal commission is provided in the sources.
Pierre Bonnard's 1919 oil painting, The Green Blouse, is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The institution has maintained custody of the work since 1963. While specific accession numbers are not detailed in the available records, the painting is formally classified within the museum's holdings as a double portrait depicting two women at a table.
The work's location at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is consistently cited as its current repository. No specific exhibition history or loan records for this piece are provided in the current sources, though its presence in the museum's collection implies its inclusion in relevant displays of Bonnard's oeuvre or early twentieth-century French painting since its acquisition over six decades ago.
Overview
Pierre Bonnard's The Green Blouse, an oil painting from 1919, captures a domestic interior scene. It features a woman seated at a table, engaged with a bowl of fruit, while another figure observes from outside a window. This work exemplifies Bonnard's characteristic approach to depicting everyday life, infusing it with vibrant light and color. The painting is part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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.
