Following a period spent producing Parisian scenes in the style of Édouard Vuillard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard virtually reinvented his art around 1905. The artist’s new emphasis on large-scale compositions, bold forms, and brilliant colors shows his awareness of the work of his contemporaries Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, as does his focus on Arcadian landscapes, a theme he had not previously explored. Part of a series of four canvases painted for his dealers, Josse and Gaston Bernheim, between 1916 and 1920, Earthly Paradise demonstrates Bonnard’s new, daring investigations of light, color, and space. Here the artist used foliage to create a proscenium-like arch for a drama involving a brooding Adam and recumbent Eve. The contrast Bonnard established between the figures seems to follow a tradition in which the female, presented as essentially sexual, is connected with nature, while the male, essentially intellectual, is able to transcend the earthly. Heightening the image’s ambiguity is an array of animals, including birds, a monkey, rabbits, and a serpent (here reduced to a garden snake). This less-than-Edenic paradise may reflect the artist’s response to the destruction of Europe during World War I, which was still raging when he began the painting.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Cinquante ans de peinture francaise, exh. cat. (Paris: XXX, 1925), XXX.
Coquiot, Gustave, Bonnard (Paris: Les Éditions Bernheim-Jeune, 1922), n.p. (ill.), as Le Paradis, 1916-1920.
Terrasse, Charles, Bonnard (Paris: Floury, 1927), pp. 141, 146, opp. 148 (ill.), 150, opp. 150 (detail), as le Paradis, 1916-19.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Exposition retrospective: Bonnard, exh. cat. (Paris: J. & H. Bernheim-Jeune, 1950), n.p., cat. 25, as Le Paradis Terrestre, 1917.
Passel, Howard, “The Paintings of Pierre Bonnard” M.A. thesis, New York University, 1950, pp. 72, 130, cat. B28, as Le paradis, 1918-20.
Natanson, Thadée, Le Bonnard que je propose, 1867-1947; tentatives (Geneva: Pierre Cailler, 1951), n.p., pl. 44, p. 140, as Le Paradis terrestre, 1915.
Besson, George, Bonnard, 1867-1947 (Paris: Les Êditions Braun & Cie, 1955), n.p., pl. 28 (ill.), as Le Paradis, 1918-20.
Francastel, Pierre, Du classicisme au cubisme. Vol. 2 of Histoire de la peinture francaise, la peinture de chevalet du XIVe au Xxe siècle (Paris: Elsevier, 1955), p. 180, as Paradis, 1920.
Musée des Ponchettes, Bonnard, exh. cat. (Nice: Presses de Pierotti, 1955), n.p. (ill.), cat. 23, p. 29, as Paradis Terrestre, 1916-20.
Raynal, Maurice, Peinture Moderne (Geneva: Skira, 1960).
Dauberville, Jean and Henry, Bonnard, catalog raisonne de l’oeuvre peint, 1906-1919, vol. 2 (Paris: Éditions J. et. H. Bernheim-Jeune, 1965), pp. opp 383 (ill), 383 (ill.), no. 867a, photo 3771, as Le Paradis terrestre, 1916-1920.
Galeries Bernheim-Jeune, Coup de chapeau a Bonnard, exh. cat. (Paris: XXX, 1967).
Réunion des Musées nationaux, Pierre Bonnard, Centenaire de sa naissance, exh. cat. (Paris: Réunion des Musées nationaux, 1967), n.p., as Paradis, 1916-20.
Terrasse, Antoine, Bonnard (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1967), pp. 104 (ill.), 107, as Le paradis, 1916-1920.
Newman, Sasha M. (ed.), Bonnard: The Late Paintings, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: The Phillips Collection, 1984), p. 130 (ill.), as Le Paradis terrestre, 1916-1920.
Cogeval, Guy, Bonnard (Paris: Hazan, 1993), pp. 98, no. 28, opp. 98 (ill.), as Le Paradis terrestre, 1916-1920.
Bell, Julian, Bonnard (London: Phaidon Press, 1994), pp. 76, opp. 76 (ill.), pl. 23, as The Earthly Paradise.
Hagen, Monika von, Bonnard, exh. cat. (Munich: Hirmer, 1994), n.p., cat. 72, as Das irdische Paradies/Le paradis terrestre, 1916-1920.
Lévêque, Alain, Bonnard, la main légère (Paris: Deyrolle, 1994), p. 48, as Paradis terrestre, 1916-1920.
Watkins, Nicholas, Bonnard (London: Phaidon Press, 1994), pp. 128, 130, 131 (ill.), pl. 101, 151, 164, as Le Paradis terrestre, 1916-20.
Artner, Alan G., “Museum acquires ‘Earthly Paradise’,” Chicago Tribune, March 28, 1996, as Earthly Paradise, 1916-20.
Frey, Mary Cameron, “Double Delight at Art Institute,” Chicago Sun-Times, April 3, 1996, p. 54 (ill.), as Earthly Paradise, 1917.
Kurita, Hidenori et al., Pierre Bonnard, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Aichi Prefecture Museum of Art, 1997), p. 76 (ill.), as Earthly Paradise, 1916-1920.
James, Merlin, “Review: Bonnard. London and New York,” The Burlington Magazine 140, 1141 (April 1998), p. 278, as Le Paradis terrestre, 1916-20.
Kozloff, Max, “A Vertigo of the Senses,” Art in America 86, 7 (July 1998), p. 55 (ill.), as The Earthly Paradise, 1916-20.
Hyman, Timothy, Bonnard (London: Thames and Hudson, 1998), p. 105, as Le Paradis terrestre (The Earthly Paradise).
Elderfield, John, “Bonnard’s Disguises” (1998), pp. 3-7, 10-15, sl. L2, L4, L11-L13, R2-R6, R10, as Le Paradis terrestre (The Earthly Paradise), 1916-20.
Watkins, Nicholas, Bonnard: Colour and Light (London: Tate Gallery Publishing, 1998), p. 33 (ill.), fig. 17, as The Earthly Paradise, 1916-20.
Whitfield, Sarah and John Elderfield, Bonnard, exh. cat. (London: Tate Gallery Publishing, 1998), pp. 17, 22, 28, 124, cat. 36, 125 (ill.), as The Earthly Paradise/Le Paradis terrestre, 1916-1920.
Art Institute, Treasures from The Art Institute of Chicago (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2000), p. 251 (ill.), as Earthly Paradise, 1916-20.
Prat, Jean-Louis, Bonnard, exh. cat. (Martigny: Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 1999), n.p., as Le Paradis terrestre.
Groom, Gloria, Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, and Roussel, 1890-1930, exh. cat. (Chicago and New Haven: Art Institute and Yale University Press, 2001), pp. 186, cat. 52, 187 (ill.), 188-190, as Earthly Paradise, 1916-20.
Zutter, Jörg, “Pierre Bonnard: Early and late,” in Apollo 158, 500 (New Series), (November 2003), p. 48-49, as Earthly Paradise, 1916-20.
D’Alessandro, Stephanie, “Earthly Paradise,” in Museum Studies, Notable Acquistions at The Art Institute of Chicago 29, 2 (2002), p. 72 (ill.), 73 (detail), as Earthly Paradise, 1916-20.
Turner, Elizabeth Hutton, Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Phillip Wilson Publishers, 2003), pp. 37, 39 (ill.), fig. 28, 169 (ill.), pl. 80, 170 (detail), as Earthly Paradise, 1916-20.
La Chapelle, Philippe de, Paradis retrouvés: un itinéraire artistique (Paris: Éditions Cercle d’Art, 2005), pp. 156, 159, 162, 163, cover ill., as Paradis terrestre.
George T. M Shackelford, Elsa Smithgall, Isabelle Cahn, Cyrille Sciama, Véronique Serrano, Eric McCauley Lee, Jonathan P. Binstock, Bonnard’s Worlds, exh. cat. (Fort Worth TX, Washington D.C: Kimbell Art Museum; The Phillips Collection, 2023), 37, 92-93 (color ill.), 94 (color ill.), 95, 229, 241, 248.
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Exposition Bonnard, May 24–June 11, 1921, n.p., cat. 4, as Paradis.
Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Cinquante ans de peinture française, March 28–July 2, 1925.
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Exposition retrospective: Bonnard, May–July 1950, p. 22, cat. 25, as Le Paradis Terrestre, 1917.
Nice, Musée des Ponchettes, Bonnard, August–September 1955, n.p. (ill.), cat. 23, p. 29, as Paradis terrestre, 1916-20.
Paris, Galeries Bernheim-Jeune, Coup de chapeau à Bonnard, March 3–April 8, 1967, no. 72.
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Bonnard, summer 1994, n.p., cat. 72, as Das irdische Paradies/Le paradis terrestre, 1916-1920.
London, Tate Gallery, Bonnard, February 12–May 17, 1998, pp. 17, 22, 28, 124, cat. 36, 125 (ill.), as The Earthly Paradise/Le Paradis terrestre, 1916-20; traveled to New York, Museum of Modern Art, June 17–October 13, 1998.
Chicago, Art Institute, Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, and Roussel, 1890-1930, February 25–May 16, 2001, pp. 186, cat. 52, 187 (ill.), 188-190, as Earthly Paradise, 1916-20; traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 26–September 9, 2001.
Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, Pierre Bonnard: early and late, September 22, 2002–January 19, 2003, pp. 37, 39 (ill.), fig. 28, 169 (ill.), pl. 80, 170 (detail), as Earthly Paradise, 1916-20; traveled to Denver Art Museum, March 1–May 25, 2003.
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Bonnard’s Worlds, Nov. 5, 2023–Jan. 28, 2024; Washington, D.C.,
The Phillips Collection, March 2, 2024–June 2, 2024, cat. 1.
The artist; commissioned by Gaston (1870-1953) and Josse (1870-1941) Bernheim-Jeune, Paris [this and the following according to Dauberville 1965]; Gaston Bernheim de Villers (formerly Bernheim-Jeune), Villers; by descent to his wife, Madame Bernheim de Villers (1883-1961), Villers [Nice 1955]; by descent to their grandson, Philippe Boby de la Chapelle, Villefranche-sur-Mer [this and the following according to letter from Philippe Boby de la Chapelle to James N. Wood, Mar. 21, 1996, in curatorial file]; consigned to Galerie Cazeau-Beraudiere, Paris; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1996.
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