I chose this painting because it looked very one-dimensional at first, but I got a very different impression of it after looking at it for several minutes. I remembered Michael Kimmelman saying something like this in Chapter One of The Accidental Masterpiece.
It looked like Marthe was only present from the waist down, but then I saw that she was actually bending over and that her head was simply much darker than the rest of her body. I think this creates a pretty cool effect. The thing that jumped out at me the most was the dog lying on the ground. It was a dark, solid, rust-colored shape which was a stark contrast to the rest of the predominantly pastel piece. I was also pleasantly surprised when I noticed the bathtub in the bottom left corner. I thought that it was typical for Bonnard to incorporate his beloved bathtub into the piece even though it wasn't technically being used directly.
I love how Bonnard uses all of these colors which would normally overpower the senses but uses them in such a way that makes the painting scattered and cohesive at the same time. The different shapes throughout the piece constantly pull my focus from place to place and keeps me captivated.
This is a dry interesting piece of art, and you found a lot of the parts of it that make it so interesting. It is amazing that I didn't really notice the dog at first glance - somehow, even though it is the darkest thing on the painting, like a dog one is used to having in the house, it seems to vanish. The colors are amazing on this.
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