Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard, a founding member of the Nabis, is known for his intimate scenes of everyday life filled with voluptuous color. After the Nabis dissolved in 1900, he remained committed to its principles of exploring abstract color and design, albeit in a more personal manner informed by his passion for modernist methods of pictorial construction. In Fruit and Fruit Dishes, the table is tilted upward toward the viewer and tightly framed around the edges to focus attention on the luscious banquet of oranges, cherries, perhaps a sliced pastry, and other delights set in gleaming ceramics. The fruits are so inviting that one hardly notices the humorous cat and dog along the bottom edge.