Pierre Bonnard
1867–1947 · Post-Impressionism & Neo-Impressionism
Biography
Bonnard met Marthe de Méligny on a Paris street in 1893. Born Maria Boursin (1869–1942), she later changed her name to Marthe in the hope of drawing a veil over the earlier part of her life. Bonnard painted her in some 400 pictures, first in Woman Pulling on Her Stocking (1893), which marked the beginning of a lifelong relationship. Perhaps his most expressive picture of Marthe is the portrait The Orange Blouse, probably painted in the same year as The Country Dining Room. The couple did not marry until 13 August 1925; only the two witnesses attended their wedding, and Bonnard did not inform his family of the event.
From the page of The Country Dining Room
