La Famille by Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard
1867-1947 | French

La famille
(The Family)

Signed "Bonnard" (lower right)
Gouache, watercolor and pencil on paper

Among Pierre Bonnard’s most unique artworks, this fan painting transforms a decorative object into a luminous work of art. Displaying an intimate scene of the artist's sister and her family, this rare masterpiece offers one of the most singular and personal ways of experiencing Bonnard’s celebrated vision.

Bonnard was especially suited to the fan format. As a founding member of Les Nabis, the avant-garde circle that sought to dissolve the boundary between fine art and decoration, he embraced objects such as screens, posters, textiles and fans as serious artistic vehicles. Deeply inspired by Japanese prints, Bonnard brought to these works the flattened perspective, cropped forms, rhythmic patterning and intimate domestic subject matter that defined his style. 

In La famille, the sweeping crescent shape of the fan offered Bonnard a compositional challenge unlike the traditional canvas, allowing him to unfold the charming family scene in a panoramic arc. We are drawn close into an intimate moment with Bonnard’s sister Andrée, her infant son Jean and her husband, the composer Claude Terrasse—all rendered in the pastel hues and blocks of color for which Bonnard is known. Painted in 1892, this fan was likely created to celebrate Jean’s birth that same year. 

Fewer than 100 fans by modern artists of this period are believed to exist, making each surviving example exceptionally rare, especially by Bonnard. Only a few examples of this unique form by the artist have ever come to auction, and similar examples can be found in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay. The importance of these works continues to receive institutional attention today, with the Musée d’Orsay showcasing an exhibition of 17 Impressionist fans this year. 

Born in 1867 in Fontenay-aux-Roses, Bonnard initially studied law before training as an artist at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts. Aligning himself with the Symbolist avant-garde, he founded the important group, Les Nabis, along with Maurice Denis and Édouard Vuillard. Known for his intimate interior scenes and highly sophisticated, unique color palette, Bonnard earned widespread acclaim during his lifetime. The artist spent his later decades in the South of France, where he continued to refine an increasingly introspective style until his death in 1947. His commitment to the subtleties of perception and color secured his position as one of the most influential figures in modern art.

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Floriane Dauberville.

Painted 1892

Paper: 14” high x 24” wide (35.6 x 61 cm)
Frame: 17” high x 27” wide x 1” deep (43.2 x 68.6 x 2.5 cm)

Provenance:
Galerie René Drouet, Paris
Private Collection
Sale: Sotheby's, London, December 3, 1986, lot 422
Private Collection, acquired at the above sale through Leggatt Brothers, London
M.S. Rau, New Orleans

Literature:
C. Frèches-Thory & A. Terrasse, The Nabis, Bonnard, Vuillard and Their Circle, Paris, 1990, pp. 160-161 (illustrated)

Exhibited:
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pierre Bonnard: The Graphic Art, December 2, 1989 - February 4, 1990, no. 15 (later traveled to Houston and Boston)
Montreal, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Bonnard, Décorateur, June 18 - October 25, 1998