The French painter Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) was one of the most original and consummate colorists of the first half of the 20th century and one of the few great painters of the period to remain unaffected by cubism.

Pierre Bonnard was born at Fontenay-aux-Roses on Oct. 13, 1867. After a false start as a law student, he began to paint in earnest at the École des Beaux-Arts. He failed to qualify for the Rome Prize competition, and in 1888 he began to spend more time at the less formal Académie Julian.

The Nabis

At the Académie, Bonnard met Maurice Denis, Paul Sérusier, Paul Ranson, Édouard Vuillard, and Ker Xavier Roussel, who banded together as an artistic brotherhood by 1890 and named themselves the "Nabis," a word derived from the Hebrew nebiim (prophets). This name appropriately reflected the occult and esoteric interests of the group...