Pierre BonnardFrench, 1867–1947The Plaid Dress
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “The Plaid Dress” now? The Cleveland Museum of Art, 223 20th Century Avant-Garde, Cleveland. Yes, on view now. Checked September 29, 2026.
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
This painting depicts the artist’s wife Marthe holding a yellow cup and saucer as she walks toward a door leading to a sunlit terrace. The profusion of patterns and close color harmonies of Marthe’s plaid dress and the wallpaper behind her make it initially difficult to discern the woman from her surroundings. Bonnard treated everything—whether human or inanimate—with equal importance in his work of this period. The artist said that he wished “to show what one sees on first entering a room, what the eye takes in at one glance; one sees everything, and at the same time nothing.”
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 2026.1
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
In the life of Pierre Bonnard
The whole life1923–1924
Illustrations for Books by Claude Anet and André Gide
In the 1920s Bonnard produced illustrations for a book by Claude Anet (1923) and a book by André Gide (1924); in 1923 he also showed works at the Salon d'Automne.
1924
Retrospective at the Galerie Druet
In 1924 Bonnard was honored with a retrospective of sixty-eight works at the Galerie Druet.
1925
Purchase of a House in Le Cannet
In 1925 Bonnard bought a house on the Côte d'Azur, in Le Cannet.
1925
Marriage to Marthe
In 1925 Bonnard married Marthe de Méligny, with whom he had lived since 1893.
c. 1925
Death of Renée Monchaty
Shortly after Bonnard's marriage to Marthe, Renée Monchaty — his former lover and the model for a number of his paintings — took her own life.
