1914

After the Shower

French, 1867 - 1947

Pierre Bonnard was one of the great colorists of twentieth-century French painting. After the Shower, with its gorgeous palette and dazzling optical effects, is a fine illustration of what the artist meant when he claimed that painting is "the transcription of the adventures of the optic nerve." This luminous canvas, which was probably painted at the Villa Joséphine in Saint-Tropez, belongs to a celebrated series of pictures in which the artist's lifelong companion, Marthe de Méligny, is observed following her daily routine of washing and drying herself. These intimate portraits evoke the quiet life the two shared in the south of France.