The Dining Room in the Country 1913

Pierre Bonnard made "The Dining Room in the Country" with oil on canvas; the date of its creation is unknown. Look at Bonnard’s short, flickering brushstrokes. The way he builds up the image is like a mosaic of sensations. I think that process is really the point here, more than representation; it's about feeling and seeing. The materiality is all: a rough, almost chalky surface; the way he layers colors, letting them peek through. There's something deeply intimate about the scene. The woman, perhaps his wife Marthe, seems lost in contemplation, connected to the exterior view by a continuous optical field of sensation. Focus on the tabletop – a soft blue haze of color that almost vibrates. What appears to be a few pieces of bread or fruit, like tiny planets in their own orbits, are sitting on plates. Bonnard’s art makes me think of Vuillard, another artist of the Intimist movement, or maybe even a looser, more casual early Matisse. Ultimately, art is about the conversation, not the final answer.