1951.69: Interior with Still Life of Fruit
PaintingsThe painting shows a rectangular dish filled with apples and grapes. On the front of the dish is an inverted V-shape in red with a small black and brown object next to it. Next to the dish are two white egg-shaped objects. The dish is on a white surface with a patch of light blue to the upper right. The edge of a plate is visible at the right edge of the picture. Behind the table are four framed pictures on the wall in the upper right corner. In front of the pictures is a surface with a vase.
Gallery Text
Bonnard was a founding member of the Nabis (“prophets” in Hebrew and Arabic), an association of late nineteenth-century artists whose heavily symbolic work aimed to reinvigorate artistic traditions. By the 1920s, however, his art had become increasingly abstract, focusing on plays of color and texture, rather than on the realistic depiction of objects. Here, the vibrant reds, greens, and yellows of the fruits contrast with the dominant purple and turquoise jewel tones of the indistinct interior space. Although the cropping of the image may seem random or spontaneous, Bonnard tightly controlled such decisions through his working method. He would tack long rolls of canvas to his studio wall and map out several compositions at once, working on all of them and adjusting their dimensions as he painted. Wertheim acquired this work in 1950; it was the last piece he added to his collection before his death.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1951.69
- People
-
Pierre Bonnard, French (Fontenay-aux-Roses, France 1867 - 1947 Cannet, France)
- Title
- Interior with Still Life of Fruit
- Other Titles
- Original Language Title: Nature Morte au Panier de Fruits
- Classification
- Paintings
- Work Type
- painting
- Date
- 1923
- Culture
- French
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/228825
Location
- Location
-
Level 1, Room 1220, European Art, 19th–20th century, Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
-
43.7 x 65 cm (17 3/16 x 25 9/16 in.)
framed: 66.5 x 88 x 9 cm (26 3/16 x 34 5/8 x 3 9/16 in.) - Inscriptions and Marks
-
- Signed: l.r.: Bonnard
- stamp: On stretcher, stenciled in black ink: 15M
- inscription: On stretcher, handwritten in red crayon: de P[or L?]eche
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
-
Pierre Bonnard, 1923, [Bernheim-Jeune, Paris] sold; to Henri Canonne. [Paul Rosenberg and Company, Paris] (before 1940-1950) sold to Maurice Wertheim, 1950, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1951.
Notes:
The painting was confiscated in France by the ERR during the German occupation, and was returned to Paul Rosenberg at the end of the war.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest from the Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
- Copyright
- © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
- Accession Year
- 1951
- Object Number
- 1951.69
- Division
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Contact
- am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
THIS WORK HAS SIGNIFICANT LOAN RESTRICTIONS BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.
The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
Publication History
- Parisje Schilders, exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1939), no. 10
- Les chefs-d'oeuvre des collections privées françaises retrouvés en Allemagne par la Commission de récupération et les Services alliés, exh. cat., Orangerie (Paris, France, 1946), no.51
- The Maurice Wertheim Catalogue: Modern French Art-- Monet to Picasso, exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC, 1960), p. 4, repr. p. 5
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso, exh. cat., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX, 1962), p. 11
- Jean Dauberville and Henry Dauberville, Bonnard: Catalogue Raisonné de L'Oeuvre Peint, Editions Bernheim-Jeune (Paris, France, 1966 - 1973), vol. III, p. 173, no. 1203, repr. in b/w
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, exh. cat., Maine State Museum (Augusta, ME, 1972), repr. pl. 1
- John O'Brian, Degas to Matisse: the Maurice Wertheim Collection, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Fogg Art Museum (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, 1988), no. 35, pp. 126-127, 159; repr. in color p. 127
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1990), repr. in color no. 23, p. 77
- Elizabeth M. Rudy, "Researching the Wertheim Collection at the Harvard Art Museums", Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals (Summer 2014), Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 301-6, p. 303
Exhibition History
- Parisje Schilders, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 02/25/1939 - 04/10/1939
- Les chefs-d'oeuvres des collections privées françaises rétrouvés en Allemagne, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 06/01/1946 - 08/31/1946
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 07/01/1952 - 09/14/1952
- French Paintings Since 1870 from the Maurice Wertheim Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/01/1953 - 09/30/1953
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 06/15/1957 - 09/15/1957
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 06/10/1958 - 08/31/1958
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Modern French Art--Monet to Picasso, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 06/17/1960 - 09/04/1960
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Manet to Picasso, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 06/13/1962 - 09/02/1962
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 06/20/1963 - 09/01/1963
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, 06/24/1965 - 09/07/1965
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, 09/03/1968 - 09/22/1968
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, 06/01/1971 - 09/30/1971
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Maine State Museum, Augusta, 06/01/1972 - 09/01/1972
- Manet to Matisse: The Maurice Wertheim Collection, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, 04/09/1985 - 05/25/1985
- The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, Isetan Department Store, Tokyo, 03/01/1990 - 04/10/1990; Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, 04/14/1990 - 05/13/1990
- Re-View: S427 Impressionist & Postimpressionist Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/02/2008 - 06/18/2011
- 32Q: 1220 Wertheim, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050
Related Objects
Verification Level
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