Bonnard

Does Bonnard paint the world? I rather think he witnesses the birth of the world, the sudden and miraculous birth of objects and characters. Before him, the universe is newborn. Before him the universe emerges, little by little, continuously. Bonnard had closed his eyes, he is opening them. Not only does he have eyes. He has a mind and a heart, the ancient mind, and the ancient heart of contemporary man. He does not spurn the suggestions of his mind and his heart. But first the sight, the miraculous sight of beings and things coming out of limbo . The world before him is turning from nothingness into life. Léon Werth. Cahiers d'aujourd'hui. 1919.

Often, people refused to see him as anything but fanciful. That is understandable. For the most severe and least subtle censor cannot help but smile when he sees a cat stretching, so caressingly! Or a dog scratching itself or watching, head cocked. And can he suppress a smile if he even considers Bonnard's characters, often so funny, so amusing! But this fancifulness that has never left him, and perhaps even less so now, is not all there is to Bonnard's talent. There is a certain melancholy about him.

Charles Terrasse. Bonnard. 1927.

In Bonnard's Words
There are few people who know how to see, to see well, to see fully. If they knew how to look, they would understand painting better.

Drawing is sensation. Color is reasoning.

The painting is a series of dots that are linked together and end up forming the object, the piece over which the eye wanders without any snags.

The object is not to paint life. The object is to make painting come alive.

Color does not embellish the drawing, it strengthens it.

The main subject is the surface, which has its color, its laws, over and above the objects.

He who sings is not always happy.

I am only beginning to understand. We must start everything all over.

I hope that my painting will hold up, without cracking. I would like to land before the young people in the year 2000 with the wings of butterflies.