Pierre Bonnard

Estate of the artist
Private Collection, Paris

Jean & Henry Dauberville, Bonnard, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, 1906-1919, vol. II, Paris, 1968, no. 851, illustrated p. 371

The canvas is not lined. The edges are reinforced with tape. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent. The work is in excellent condition.
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Painted in 1916, Paysage au soleil couchant reflects Bonnard’s intensely creative and prolific relationship with the landscape of the South of France. During World War I, he painted several decorative compositions from a terrace opening onto vast landscapes. The dark foliage of the distant trees allows the eye of the viewer to glide from the brightly lit, vibrant foreground to the horizon that blends into the yellow-purple combination of the sky, suggesting a mid-summer sunset. 

The scene is interrupted only by a small path on the right of the canvas. Color is limited to a basic green and blue harmony with an infinite number of shades; the blue is sometimes light, sometimes more mauve, but mainly sprinkled with touches of yellow and orange while the green morphs from a thick, darker hue to lighter shades, bringing illumination to the landscape. In Paysage au soleil couchant, Bonnard seems to conjure the evanescent notion of time, a warmth that caresses the skin, a comforting freshness from the calming shade of a tree and a breeze that brings comfort to a day full of sunlight and vitality.