Misia Sert, Paris
Gaston Gallimard, Paris
Sale: Palais Galliera, Paris, 14th June 1968, lot 238
Private Collection, France
Sale: Maître Briest, Paris, 19th March 1984, lot 93a
P﷽urchased at the above sale by the fami൲ly of the present owner

Jean & Henry Dauberville, Bonnard, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Paris, 1974, vol. IV, no. 01975, illustrated p. 302

The canvas is lined. There is a 1cm. spot of retouching to the upper left quadrant and a line of retouching along the lower edge, all visible under UV light. There is a line of craquelure along the lower edge and a few lines of craquelure along the left edge. There are lines of paint loss, up to 5cm. long, at intervals to the bottom edge. Apart from undulations in the paint surface along the bottom edge, this work is in fairly good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate although deeper and richer in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Bonnard had long been impressed by the stunning vista of the Mediterranean. From the time of his first trips to the South of France at the beginning of the 20^th century, the artist returned to the region every year, eventually buying a house in Le Cannet in 1926, overlooking the bay of Cannes. It is possible that Bonnard made the present view near Saint-Tropez, which he visited for the first time in 1908, staying with the Fauve painter Henri Manguin at his house La Villa Demière.

In the present work, the view reaches across a bay, where the white sails of two boats are visible, to the land beyond. The illusion of the deep space of the landscape is further enhanced by the the line of trees and bank of foliage that create a broad decorative border across the width of the picture. As Julian Bell has observed, 'Bonnard is fascinated by the impermeability of leaves as a screen' (Julian Bell, Bonnard, London, 1994, p. 78). The variety of brushmarks and the fluctuating patches of pigment that make up this 'wall' of green is typical of Bonnard's technique in which he seems to improvise with the brush almost as much as he does with the pencil in the rapid sketches he habitually made in front of the motif. As he once wrote, 'The picture is a series of blotches which are joined together and finally come to form the object, the finished piece, over which the eye must be able to wander completely unhindered' (quoted in Timothy Hyman, Bonnard, London, 1998, p. 154).

In that it may be unfinished, the present work gives us a unique insight into Bonnard's working method. Félix Fénéon, who spent time with the painter along the Mediterranean, helps us to complete the picture, describing how he watched Bonnard work on his landscape paintings: 'With four thumbtacks he had pinned a canvas, lightly tinted with ochre, to the dining-room wall. During the first few days he would glance from time to time, as he painted, at a sketch on a piece of paper twice the size of one's hand, on which he had made notes in oil, pencil and ink of the dominant colours of each little section of the motif. At first I could not identify the subject. Did I have before me a landscape or a seascape? On the eighth day, I was astonished to be able to recognize a landscape. From that time on Bonnard no longer referred to a sketch. He would step back to judge the effect of the juxtaposed tones; occasionally he would place a dab of colour with his finger, then another next to the first. On about the fifteenth day, I asked him how long he thought it would take him to finish his landscape. Bonnard replied: "I finished it this morning"' (quoted in John Rewald, Pierre Bonnard, New York, 1948, p. 51).


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FIG. 1, Pierre Bonnard at work in h🐟is studio, photograph by Brassaï