Pierre Bonnard’s Southern Landscape, France, 1928

Pierre Bonnard is generally regarded as one of the great colourists of modern art, and this piece displays the painter’s great skill in the use of colour. He did not paint the subject directly, but from memory, in his studio, working on several paintings at once. Playing with contrasting greens, oranges and blues, he presents his inner vision of the landscape. He and the other painters in his group, known as the Nabis, shared the idea that the boundaries between easel painting and decoration should be broken down. As the French title of the painting (Décor meridional) suggests, the elements in the painting are recorded in a decorative way, as if in a tapestry.