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Upgrade your walls with La Lecture (Reading) - Pierre Bonnard - Oil Painting. Every fine art reproduction is painted entirely by hand, so the surface carries the depth and variation of an original oil painting rather than the flatness of a digital canvas print.
circa 1905
Oil on canvas
Private Collection, Switzerland.
La Lecture is an enchanting example of Pierre Bonnard’s domestic interiors. The theme of la vie bourgeoise preoccupied the artist from the time of his earlier intimiste scenes of the 1890s until the end of his career. Shortly before painting this composition, Bonnard had travelled extensively in Northern and Southern Europe with various companions including édouard Vuillard, with whom he travelled to both Italy and Spain. These trips coincided with a new annual schedule in which Bonnard spent an increasing amount of time outside Paris, and it was on these trips outside urban centres that he developed, from his earlier Nabis style, an interest in Impressionism. La lecture, whilst retaining the artist’s interest in intimiste scenes, shows a stylistic evolution away from the flat planes of the Japanese woodblock print.
While his style at this time shifted considerably and later would evolve further with his dramatic use of bright colour, his interest in painting his surroundings never changed. Bonnard was famously private, yet his personal world was publically exhibited in his art. Sarah Whitfield remarks on the intensely personal nature of his paintings: ‘Yet, from the start, this modest and most discreet of men, this least public of artists made his daily life the subject of his art, observing steadily and calmly everything that was closest to him: his family, his surroundings, his companion, his animals, “I have all my subjects to hand”, he said, “I go and look at them. I take notes. Then I go home. And before I start painting I reflect, I dream...” There is a feeling of closeness, of people living together, quietly going about the mundane household tasks, sitting down to meals together. The moments he chooses to paint are the soothing lulls that punctuate a domestic routine. These are intensely private pictures; as Raymond Cogniat observed: “Bonnard never paints the parts of the house where people work or receive visitors”’ (quoted in Bonnard (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York & The Tate Gallery, London, 1998, pp. 9-10).
As is the case for many of Bonnard’s best interior scenes, this picture requires the viewer to take time to look at the composition and make sense of the spatial relationships among its elements. Bonnard once said that he intended for his pictures ‘to show what one sees when one enters a room all of a sudden’, and the present picture certainly fulfils this objective. Jean Clair wrote of the experience of looking at Bonnard's paintings, asserting that the artist intended ‘to paint the feeling of “visual entirety” that one experiences on entering a room, before one has recognised, distinguished, brought into focus and identified the various details...the revolution in painting, brought about by Bonnard was that, for the first time, a painter attempted to translate onto canvas the data of a vision that is physiologically “real...” He was the first artist to have attempted to portray on canvas the integrality of the field of vision and so bring nearer to the eye what classical perspective had kept at a distance" (ibid., p. 33).
Every hand painted oil painting in this fine art series is finished on artist-grade canvas and checked against the original before it leaves the studio.
Trained artists work in stages — underpainting, mid-tones, highlights, and detail — using traditional oils on canvas. Because nothing is printed, every hand painted oil painting has its own subtle texture and depth.
For gallery wall art that does not feel generic, a painted fine art canvas is hard to beat. It is a popular fine art oil painting pick for new homeowners and a durable alternative to seasonal poster art.
In short: La Lecture (Reading) - Pierre Bonnard - Oil Painting combines a post-impressionist composition, a 100% hand painted oil painting process, and the flexibility of made-to-order canvas sizes — a dependable choice for fine art oil painting and gallery wall art.
| Size | Price |
|---|---|
| 20 X 24 in | $68.48 |
| 24 X 36 in | $106.48 |
| 30 X 40 in | $146.98 |
| 36 X 48 in | $195.48 |
| 48 X 72 in | $379.98 |
The sizes shown are the reproduction canvas sizes we paint to order. The dimensions given in a work's description refer to the original artwork and will differ from the sizes offered here. Not sure? Read the size guide or e-mail us.
Free on orders over $60; a flat $5 below that. Dispatched in 1–2 business days; 30 days to send it back. Full policy.
Every canvas is painted by hand in oils on artist-grade stretched canvas, with an extra blank border left for framing. How to care for your painting.
Measurements are on the size guide, or e-mail [email protected] and we reply within one business day.
