From: The Accidental Masterpiece

Cartier-Bresson looked at

it for a moment, turned to me, and said, “You know, Picasso

didn’t like Bonnard and I can imagine why, because Picasso

had no tenderness.

Picasso explained: "Painting isn’t a question of

sensibility: it’s a question of seizing the power, taking over

from nature, not expecting her to supply you with informa-

tion and good advice.” And worse, to Picasso, Bonnard “is

not really a modern painter.” In the years since, Bonnard’s

reputation has recovered, fortunately, though he still tends

to be regarded as an art-historical anachronism: an impres-

sionist after impressionism was dead. Bonnard was thought

to be too soft; modern art has accustomed us to abrasive-

ness. We’re wary of an art of such paradisiacal beauty, whose

complexity and peculiar sadness aren’t immediately appar-

ent. Having earned a niche in history as one of Ies Nabis the

group of painters who emulated Paul Gauguin at the end of

the nineteenth century, he went on to paint f0f man)’ Ycars m

a manner of extravagant opulence while the art world em-

braced cubism and other stern -isms of the modern era. So

the idea arose that Bonnard was a démodé painter of bon-

bons living on the Riviera.