The Garden 1937

Pierre Bonnard painted 'The Garden' with oil on canvas. Looking at this image, it's hard not to think about Bonnard outside in the garden wrestling with the canvas in front of him. There's something so joyful and riotous about it. The brushwork is thick, loaded, juicy. Like he's really going for it. And that mustard-y yellow ochre color – it feels so alive and full of light. I can imagine him trying to capture not just what he saw, but how it felt to be there, surrounded by the buzzing, overgrown tangle of the garden. You can see how he's really pushing the paint around, using it to build up a surface that feels almost sculptural. When I look at this, I’m reminded of Van Gogh, who used the material qualities of painting to communicate feeling. It makes me want to pick up a brush. It's like they're all having this conversation across time.