Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Collection de M.R.B., Tableaux Modernes, 1937, lot 2
Collection Lindon
David B. Findlay Galleries, New York
Private Collection, Germany

Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, Exposition de Peinture Moderne, Groupe I,  1922, no. 25
Paris, Galerie Pétridès, 18 peintures de Bonnard, 1943, no. 17
New York, David B. Findlay Galleries, XIXth and XXth Century French Masters, 1957, no. 1

Claude Roger-Marx, Bonnard, Paris, 1924, illustrated p. 6 (titled as Soleil)
François-Joachim Beer, Pierre Bonnard, 1947, pl. 73, illustrated p. 93 (titled as Le Parasol)
Antiques, vol. LXXII, no. 5, New York, November, 1957, illustrated p. 394
Jean and Henry Dauberville, Bonnard, Catalogue Raisonné de L'Oeuvre Peint, 1920-1939, vol. 3, Paris, 1973, no. 1117, illustrated p. 117

Bonnard’s earliest depictions of Parisian streets date from the 1890s, and in 1895 produced an album of lithographs on the theme of the city and its inhabitants, titled Quelques aspects de la vie de Paris. The spectacle of urban modernity provided a colorful source of inspiration, and the artist was fascinated by the variety of subjects it offered, including street vendors, elegant bourgeois ladies, old-fashioned and modern modes of transport, and urban architecture. Returning to this subject throughout his career, Bonnard’s city scenes reflect a certain joie de vivre achieved through the use of bright tones and a strong sense of energy and movement. Rather than representing an impersonal, alienated environment, he pays particular attention to the people’s everyday activities, costume and facial expressions, showing a human aspect of metropolitan life.

Bonnard shared his fascination with the city with a number of Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists, and in choosing this subject matter he drew on the tradition of depicting the busy streets and cafés of the French capital. Gustave Caillebotte, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro all executed a number of works depicting Parisian boulevards, squares and bridges, usually characterised by a sense of rich and varied life of the city. Gustave Geffroy commented: ‘no-one is quicker than Bonnard to seize the look of our Parisian streets, the silhouettes of a passer-by and the patch of color which stands out in the Metropolitan mist. [He] seizes on all the momentary phenomena of the street, even the most fugitive glances are caught and set down’ (G. Geffroy, quoted in Pierre Bonnard (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy of Arts, 🍒London, 1996, p. 16).𝐆