Bonnard painted this monumental canvas not long after settling into Le Bosquet. This shift to the south led Bonnard to apply pure colour to his canvases with what he described as a ‘new chromatic intensity’. He was struck by how the ‘light of the Midi’ altered his perception of the colours in objects, shadows and reflections. To construct this mosaic-like, receding view of the southern landscape, Bonnard applied bright, pure colours to the surface of his canvas – from the orange-roofed houses and their white square facades to deep greens and blues of the dense vegetation that borders the scene.
Pierre Bonnard
French 1867–1947
View of Le Cannet (Vue du Cannet) 1927
oil on canvas
242.3 × 242.0 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
On deposit at Musée Bonnard, Le Cannet
Gift to the State by the Fondation Meyer, 2008 (RF 2008 52)
Photo © Musée d’Orsay, dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
