Plain woven fabric with a two-tone checked pattern, known as gingham in English and vichy in French, has historically been used for utilitarian furnishings and household napery. It has a long history and association with country life, and today conveys a sense of ‘home comforts’. These domestic connotations possibly influenced Bonnard’s regular deployment of checked fabric in his compositions. The grid created here by the checks must also have appealed to the painter, allowing him to play with the tension between representation and abstraction.
Pierre Bonnard
French 1867–1947
The checkered tablecloth (Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges) 1939
oil on canvas
58.4 × 58.4 cm
Art Institute of Chicago
Gift of Mary and Leigh Block, 1988 (1988.141.4)
Photo: The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY
