NARRATOR:
Pierre Bonnard delighted in depicting urban life and leisure in fin-de-siècle Paris. This charming view of the Place Clichy, one of three triptychs, or three-paneled works, was painted in 1900.
The panels are dominated by muted greens, enlivened by touches of red. The vantage point, slightly above street level, gives us a clear view of the bustling scene. Silhouetted against the pavement, the figures appear as flat patches of color. Notice, for example, the fashionable lady crossing the street in the center panel or the girl on the right in her pink dress, with red cheeks and shoes. The decorative tones and use of the triptych format reflect Bonnard’s interest in Japanese art.
Bonnard often painted around the Place Clichy, an area near Montmartre, just north of his studio. The neighborhood had been popular with artists for half a century. It was at the heart of Paris’s entertainment district, famous for its cafés and nightclubs, including the legendary Moulin Rouge. Degas, Toulouse Lautrec and Renoir had already painted this part of the city, but by the early 1890s, Bonnard was rapidly supplanting them in their role as visual interpreters of Paris.
The Place Clichy, Paris
1900
Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947)
On View
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Place Clichy marked the heart of Parisian bohemia. Located in the north of the city, at the foot of Montmartre, the square was a hub for nightlife and progressive art, surrounded by cafés and studios—including Bonnard’s own, just around the corner in the rue de Douai. In the three compositions that form this triptych, he portrayed the square in spring or summer, bustling with pedestrians, delivery carts, and an omnibus, at left. This work belongs to a series of seven triptychs representing the same neighborhood at various times of day, which Bonnard painted for his friend and dealer Jos Hessel.
Details
- Artist Name: Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947)
- Title: The Place Clichy, Paris
- Date: 1900
- Medium: Oil on cardboard (triptych)
- Dimensions: 13-3/4 x 38-3/4 in. (34.9 x 98.4 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1969.09.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
[Jos Hessel, Paris].
Private Collection, France.
Daniel Varenne, sold 30 July 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned 21 August 1968 to];
Norton Simon, returned 6 September 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned 5 October 1968 to];
Dick [probably Jack R. Dick, Greenwich, Connecticut, returned 17 October 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned [center panel only] 20 November 1968 to];
Benjamin E. Bensinger, Chicago, returned 22 November 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned 22 November 1968 to];
Daniel Varenne, returned 26 November 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned 7 December 1968 to];
Ezra Zilkha, New York, returned 13 December 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, stock no. 5342, sold 7 May 1969 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Private Collection, France.
Daniel Varenne, sold 30 July 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned 21 August 1968 to];
Norton Simon, returned 6 September 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned 5 October 1968 to];
Dick [probably Jack R. Dick, Greenwich, Connecticut, returned 17 October 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned [center panel only] 20 November 1968 to];
Benjamin E. Bensinger, Chicago, returned 22 November 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned 22 November 1968 to];
Daniel Varenne, returned 26 November 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, consigned 7 December 1968 to];
Ezra Zilkha, New York, returned 13 December 1968 to;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, stock no. 5342, sold 7 May 1969 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
[on loan]
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1970-01 to 1972-09
[on loan]
- Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, 1969-08-18 to 1969-11-19
Three Centuries of French Art: Selections from The Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art and The Norton Simon Foundation_1
- California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1973-05-03 to 1976-06-15
Reinstallation of South Wing
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-10-07 to 1995-08-13
By Day & By Night: Paris in the Belle Époque
- Norton Simon Museum, 2019-10-04 to 2020-03-02
- California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Three Centuries of French Art, no. 50
- Dauberville, Jean; and Henry Dauberville, Bonnard: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, 1888-1905, 1965, no. 237 p. 241
- Oakland Museum, Art Treasures in California: An exhibition of master paintings from museums and public collections in California, 1969, no. 11
- The French Impressionists in Southern California: Paintings, Sculptures, and Prints in Public Collections. A Guidebook and Catalogue, 1984,
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 172
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1, 2006,
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 633 p. 321
- Alsdorf, Bridget, Gawkers: Art and Audience in Late Nineteenth-Century France, 2022, Fig. 3.18 pp. 122-146, p. 140-141 (ill.)
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