Pierre Bonnard

Comte de Pourtalès, Paris

Madrid, Fundación March & Barcelona, Sala de la Caixa, Bonnard, 1983-1984, no. 43, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Lausanne, Fondation de l'Hermitage, Pierre Bonnard et son monde enchanté, 1991, no. 77, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, The Time of the Nabis, 1998, no. 37, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Paris, Foundation Dina Vierny - Musée Maillol, Pierre Bonnard, 2000, no. 43, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Le Cannet,  Le Musée Bonnard, Pierre Bonnard sous la lumière du Cannet, 2001, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Canberra, National Gallery of Australia & Brisbane, Queensland Art Gallery, Pierre Bonnard, Observing Nature, 2003, no. 67, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (dated as circa  1945)

Jean & Henry Dauberville, Bonnard, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Paris, 1973, vol. III, no. 1420, illustrated p. 335
Michel Terrasse, Bonnard at Le Cannet, London, 1988, listed p. 123
Jorg Zutter, ‘Pierre Bonnard Observing Nature’, in Artonview, no. 33, Autumn 2003, illustrated p. 10

The canvas is lined. UV examination reveals a tiny spot of retouching to the extreme upper right corner and a trace of glue to the centre of the right edge. There are two spots of paint loss to the upper left edge. The colours remain fresh and this work is in overall good condition.
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‘Today I saw the first almond tree blooming, and the mimosas are starting to make yellow spots'
PIERRE BONNARD
in a letter to Matisse at the end of February 1941.

In 1926 Bonnard bought the modest little pink house high up among the trees at Le Cannet that he called Le Bosquet (The Grove). This almond tree was (and still is) in Bonnard’s garden at Le Cannet. ‘Every spring it forces me to paint it’, he said. A very similar composition (illustrated below), which is considered as Bonnard’s last painting - he began it in 1945 and finished it in 1947 - is in the permanent collection of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.