Woman Putting on Her Stockings

1893

Pierre Bonnard

(French, 1867–1947)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

oil on board

Measurements

Unframed: 35.2 x 27 cm (13 7/8 x 10 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.102

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

The woman in this painting is likely Bonnard’s companion and eventual wife, Marthe Boursin, who the artist met in 1893 and married in 1925.

Description

This painting was made when Pierre Bonnard was a member of a group of artists in Paris who called themselves the Nabis (Hebrew for “prophets”), who sought to capture subjective experience in their art. Here, he depicts a woman, very likely his new lover, Marthe Boursin, who he met around 1893. Bonnard infuses the scene with rhyming patterns, echoing Marthe’s undulating auburn curls against the horizontal waves that represent the bed linens. Marthe and Bonnard became lifelong partners, eventually marrying in1925.