Pierre Bonnard - Signac and his Friends in a Boat

Pierre Bonnard
Signac and his Friends in a Boat
ca. 1924
oil on canvas
Kunsthaus, Zürich

Signac

Different schools of painting claim them and argue over them: Signac is a Neo-Impressionist or a Pointillist, friend of Seurat; Bonnard is a Nabi, like Vuillard and Maurice Denis.  But none of that affects how they felt about each other.  As different as their work was, Bonnard and Signac were friends and supported one another's efforts.  

Signac typically deployed dabs of color side by side in vivid tones to evoke the light of Mediterranean ports and coasts, composing his scenes within a strict geometry.  Passionately committed to political causes, he produced a body of work remarkable for its radiance.  Bonnard was more circumspect and his touch more supple; the structures underpinning his designs tended toward self-concealment and subtle obliquity.        

Painter at the Helm

This canvas shows us part of a boat: in the foreground the cabin trunk covering the companionway that leads down to the cabin; behind it the mast supporting a triangular sail that dominates the upper half of the composition (canvas on canvas).  On the bridge are four persons.  At center, firmly gripping the tiller and looking straight before him, Signac, the boat's owner, who can at the same time see his route ahead and Bonnard, unseen by us, occupied with the making of this painting.  Also present are two ladies with prominent hats and downcast eyes, plus a young man wearing seagoing clothes in the poop, occupied with some sort of nautical maneuver.

Beneficent Storm

The sea appears unsettled, with cresting waves in sombre colors.  Threatening weather.  A ray of sunshine, emerging through clouds, creates a highlight down the mast.  Above this heavy sea floats a characteristic Mediterranean landscape, a rocky coast with houses perched high.  Another boat is seen at left with a differently-shaped sail, barely sketched in.  In the background, a sky part blue and part flamingo-pink foretelling a storm, but a storm that will be lovely, balmy, habitable – a kindly mistral.    

Banquet of Colors

The framing of this image is fresh and eloquent, but equally seductive are the pigments themselves, which produce a sort of optical confection, as if objects and figures exude essential colors, concentrated secretions.  Consider the sea, almost black, and the myriad variations on white – that of the sail, the hats, the deckchair, the bridge, the rails, the doughnut-shaped life-preserver.  The boat becomes a buffet-table asking us to taste these scrumptious whites.

– translated and adapted from Le Musée imaginaire de Michel Butor: 105 œuvres décisives de la peinture occidentale (Paris: Flammarion, 2019)