Cinq Personnages by Pierre Bonnard

Cinq Personnages - Pierre Bonnard - Fine Art Oil Painting Wall Decor

Product Overview

Cinq Personnages - Pierre Bonnard - Fine Art Oil Painting Wall Decor brings gallery-caliber art into everyday spaces. This fine art oil painting is a 100% hand painted oil painting on canvas, created for buyers who want genuine post-impressionist canvas wall art instead of a mass-produced poster or paper print.

The Story Behind the Painting

circa 1915
Oil on canvas

Capturing the Zeitgeist of the time, Pierre Bonnard reveled in seizing the vast array of characters inhabiting the modern city and Cinq personnages is an inventive and colorful depiction of a bustling street scene in Paris circa 1915. The spectacle of urban modernity provided a colorful source of inspiration, and the artist was fascinated by the variety of subjects it offered: street sellers, elegant bourgeois ladies, old-fashioned and modern modes of transport, and urban architecture. Bonnard shared this fascination with the city with Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists, including Caillebotte, Monet and Pissarro, all of whom executed a number of works depicting Parisian boulevards, squares and bridges, usually characterized by a sense of the rich and varied life of the city. Through their works, each of these artists remarkably provided a snippet of a changing world, away from the provincial experience of local life into the observation of a Haussmanized, new, Paris, radically changing both the cityscape and the way humans interact, navigate and experience the city.
Cinq personnages depicts a busy crossing in Paris. In an extremely modern perspective in the composition, the artist has included numerous figures all captured with a remarkable sense of movement, reflecting Bonnard's fascination with the energy and dynamic life of the metropolis. Gustave Geffroy commented on Bonnard’s work: "no-one is quicker than Bonnard to seize the look of our Parisian streets, the silhouettes of a passer-by and the patch of colour 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" (Gustave Geffroy, quoted in Pierre Bonnard (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1996, p. 16). In Cinq personnages the figures are closely portrayed almost as if about to run into each other at any moment. However, each is extremely isolated, all headed in different directions, capturing the physical proximity but emotional distance of the figures. Each woman is elegantly portrayed with fashionable hats, disturbed perhaps by the presence of the only male figure in the composition in a bowler hat and a cane stick, the epitome of the bourgeois strolling about town. Most of the figures seem to be absorbed in their own thoughts, placing the viewers as voyeurs to the scene. Our gaze however captures that of the beautiful young lady in a light blue wide-brimmed hat decorated by flowers, her hat obscuring the sun, her eyes into sudden darkness, but placing her profile in a dramatic chiaroscuro effect highlighting her delicate features. Such sudden locking of the gaze almost interrupts and freezes the scene, and Bonnard successfully creates a balance between speed and the frenzy of the modern world highlighted by the rich and dense composition, and the silent, solitary moment of a quiet glance, highlighted by the lady looking out to the viewer.

Returning to this subject throughout his career, Bonnard's city scenes reflect a certain joie de vivre achieved through the sparing use of bright tones and a strong sense of energy and movement. The present work positions the viewer at street level and with this seemingly nonchalant perspective suggests a chance momentary glimpse, rather than a carefully staged ensemble, thereby, further adding to the sense of the fleeting urban life.

Collectors often choose this fine art image when searching for fine art oil painting that feels substantial rather than decorative or disposable.

Materials & Craftsmanship

Oil on canvas remains the reference standard for post-impressionist reproductions. Our artists apply pigment by hand, blending the fine art tones directly on the surface for depth that a printed fine art oil painting simply cannot match.

Specifications & What You Receive

• Painted entirely by hand in oils on artist-grade canvas, with no giclée or inkjet process involved.
• A generous 2-inch blank canvas border surrounds the image to simplify mounting.
• No middlemen — we ship directly to you worldwide.
• Available canvas sizes for this hand painted oil painting: 20 X 24 in, 24 X 36 in, 30 X 40 in, 36 X 48 in, 48 X 72 in.
• Made-to-measure options are available for this fine art canvas.
• Flexible shipping through DHL, UPS, FedEx, USPS and partner networks.
• Complimentary stretching over wooden stretcher bars; ask us about a custom frame.
• We send a digital image of your fine art painting for approval before it ships.

Styling & Placement

post-impressionist canvas wall art is one of the easiest ways to warm a living room. Pair this piece with natural linen, dark wood, or brushed brass, and let the hand painted surface do the rest.

Ordering & Peace of Mind

Whether the search term is fine art oil painting, living room wall decor, or post-impressionist oil painting wall decor, this hand painted canvas delivers the same thing: a real painted surface, made to your chosen dimensions.