Thadée Natanson, Paris

Vente Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Me Baudoin, 13 juin 1908, lot 2

Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquis lors de cette dernière)

Collection Adams Brothers, Londres, 1937

Collection A. Harpman

Collection Rosemary Peto, Bembridge, Île de Wight (acquis en 1949)

Vente Londres, Christie's, 8 décembre 1999, lot 9 

Galerie Neffe-Degandt Fine Art, Londres

Collection particulière, New York (2001)

Vente New York, Sotheby’s, 6 novembre 2015, lot 203

Acquis lors de cette vente par l'actuel propriétaire

Collection Louis Grandchamp des Raux

Paris, Galerie Vollard, circa 1894

Exeter, Royal Albert Museum and Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, Municipal Art Gallery, Sunderland, Public Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, Museum and Art Gallery, Eastbourne, Towner Art Gallery, French Paintings from Mr. Peto's Collection, 1951-1952, n°3

Plymouth, City Art Gallery, French Impressionists and English Painting and Sculpture from the Peto Collection,1960-1961, n°3

Londres, Royal Academy, Pierre Bonnard, hiver 1966, n° 11, p.34 (selon une étiquette au dos)

Munich, Haus der Kunst, Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Centenaire de la naissance de Pierre Bonnard, octobre 1966 - avril 1967 (selon une étiquette au dos)

Nottingham, Nottingham Castle Museum, Pierre Bonnard 1867-1947, 1984, n°117, reproduit

Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art, Pierre Bonnard, juillet 1991

Aix-en-Provence, Hôtel de Caumont, centre d’art, Bonnard et le Japon, avril-octobre 2024, reproduit p.156

Barcelone, Fundacio Catalunya La Pedrera, Les Nabis de Bonnard à Vuillard, mars - juin 2026, p.234, reproduit en couleur p.190

Varsovie, Royal Łazienki Museum, The Nabis – Prophets of a New Art, juillet-septembre 2026

G. Coquiot, Bonnard, Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1922, p.21-23

T. Natanson, Le Bonnard que je propose, Pierre Cailler, Genève, 1951, n°2, p.112

J. et H. Dauberville, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint révisé et augmenté 1888-1905, vol. I, Paris, 1992, n° 72, reproduit en noir et blanc p.136

N. Watkins, Bonnard, Phaidon, Paris, 1994, n°24, reproduit p.37

Un certificat de Monsieur Pierre Vernon pourra être délivré sur demande de l'acquéreur.

In 1951, Thadée Natanson published Le Bonnard Que Je Propose, a work in which he revisited the descriptions of the nineteen paintings by Bonnard that he had been ’forced’ to sell in 1908. This one is described as follows: “In the shade of a tree, a woman is about to dive near a boat whose oar cuts through the sun-drenched surface of the river. Harmony of green and grey, highlighted by two shades of gold and burgundy”.

This passage highlights the narrative dimension of the work in its interpretation of the female figure’s leaning posture at the moment just before she dives into the water. Bonnard’s model was most likely his muse Marthe, whom he had met in 1893, the year this painting was created (ill. 1). With her reserved and introverted nature, she was the exact opposite of Misia.

An employee in a shop selling artificial flowers, she went by the name of Marthe de Méligny, concealing a more humble identity: that of Maria Boursin, thirty-four years old and born into a modest family in Berry. Bonnard married her in 1925 and was deeply affected by her death in 1942.

Marthe was a favourite model, notably for the series of nudes that brought the painter fame (ill. 4).

In La Baignade, Marthe appears as an almost mythological figure, suggesting a nymph ready to slip into the water, much like the ethereal heroines who populate the Symbolist plays of Maeterlinck, an author who was greatly admired by the Nabis at the time. The young woman moves towards a pool whose surface captures the golden light filtering through the trees. Behind her, the railing of a bridge crosses the scene, whilst a small sailing boat glides away towards a sparkling sea. As in many of his early works (ill. 2 and 3), Bonnard, nicknamed the ’very Japanese Nabi’, organises his composition according to principles borrowed from Japanese prints. The abrupt rise in the viewpoint, the bold foreshortening, the supple line tracing the body and in particular, the delicate curve of the back, all draw upon Japanese art, and more specifically that of Utamaro. For Nicholas Watkins, this metamorphosis of Marthe into a nymph foreshadows the themes developed by Bonnard in his illustrations for Daphnis et Chloé, published in 1902.

The artist approaches this nude with a new sensuality, just as his romantic relationship with Marthe was beginning. The young woman’s movement, as she leans towards the water, forms a single, long curve that unites her head, back and hips. The golden light, reflected by the pond, falls upon her skin, mingles with her hair and extends all the way to the bridge, unifying the scene in a single chromatic harmony.

The curtain of foliage frames the composition like a natural window, placing the viewer in a slightly furtive, almost voyeuristic position, witnessing a moment of intimacy captured as it unfolds.

Fig. 1 : Marthe de profil, s’essuyant la jambe, circa 1900-1901, négatif sur film souple au gélatino-bromure d’argent

Fig. 2 : Pierre Bonnard, Les trois âges (maternité), 1893, huile sur toile

Fig. 3 : Pierre Bonnard, Tête de femme, circa 1892, huile sur bois, Collection particulière, Suisse

Fig. 4 : Pierre Bonnard, Nu à contre-jour, huile sur toile, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles