Snowballs 1891

Pierre Bonnard created “Snowballs,” an intimate painting of flowers and a butterfly with oil on canvas. Bonnard was a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde artists Les Nabis, which means "prophets." In fin-de-siècle France, many artists turned away from depicting grand historical narratives. Instead, they chose subjects from everyday life, like the domestic sphere, and imbued them with a sense of mystery and symbolism. Bonnard had a unique ability to find beauty in the mundane. His paintings often evoke personal memories, and the painting style has a dream-like quality. There is an emotional connection in this piece that relates to the theme of fleeting beauty. A butterfly is captured mid-flight near a cluster of delicate snowballs. Both flowers and butterfly are symbols of fragility and ephemeral beauty, suggesting the transient nature of life. This perspective gently acknowledges that beauty doesn't last forever.