terça-feira, dezembro 16, 2003
Ver, com os olhos de Bonnard II
Pierre Bonnard | Sesta 1900 | oil on canvas | 109.0 (h) x 132.0 (w) cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Felton Bequest 1949
Marthe is shown in a pose made famous by a celebrated classical sculpture, Hermaphrodite, which Bonnard may have seen in the Louvre during his studies there at l’ Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
We are in the room and looking down at the woman. With her head and shoulders in shadow, Marthe seems relaxed and perhaps asleep — she also appears to be slipping off the bed. The strong diagonal of the table on the right continues the line of Marthe’s upper left leg. The table appears tipped up, covered with a clutter of unstable objects — creating an ambiguous spatial illusion. Note how the stripes on the wallpaper on the right do not recede into the corner of the room, thereby flattening the space.
While the small white dog having a siesta on the floor beside the bed is facing away from the woman, the shape of its body echoes the shape of her back, and its front legs are stretched out in much the same way as the woman’s arms. Bonnard often introduced images of animals unexpectedly into his paintings.
