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The Large Garden
Oil on canvas, 168 x 221 cm, by Pierre Bonnard, 1894–95
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
 

Based on the grounds of Le Grand-Lemps, the family home of Pierre Bonnard, this work presents a broad garden seen from a slightly raised vantage, where small figures are dispersed among trees and vegetation and remain secondary, partially absorbed into their surroundings so that the garden governs the composition. The space does not recede in a strict academic manner but is arranged in layered bands that guide the eye across areas of colour and foliage in a decorative manner akin to a tapestry. Colour takes the leading role, with strong, flat areas of green, yellow, and warm tones, limited modelling, simplified forms, and softened or broken outlines, reflecting Bonnard’s early association with the Nabis and giving the impression of a scene recalled and reworked in the studio..