This painting captures a scene the artist must often have observed. His longtime companion and future wife, Marthe (Maria Boursin), is seated at a table laden with dishes and a fruit bowl. The profile of an attendant or maid is visible at the left. Although Marthe was in her fifties at the time, she appears ageless she always does in Bonnard's paintings.
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Artwork Details
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Title:The Green Blouse
Artist:Pierre Bonnard (French, Fontenay-aux-Roses 1867–1947 Le Cannet)
Date:1919
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:40 3/16 × 27 in. (102.1 × 68.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ittleson Jr. Purchase Fund, 1963
Accession Number:63.64
Inscription: Signed (lower left): Bonnard
the artist (1919–20; sold in February 1920 to Bernheim de Villers); Gaston Bernheim de Villers, Paris (1920–d. 1953); his widow, Mme Gaston Bernheim de Villers, Paris (from 1953); her great-nephew, Abbé Philippe de la Chapelle, Paris (until 1962); [Sam Salz, New York, 1962–63; sold in 1963 to MMA]
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "Twenty-Third Annual International Exhibition of Paintings," April 24–June 15, 1924, no. 126 (as "The Cup of Coffee," lent by Bernheim Jeune et Cie).
New York. Wildenstein and Co., Inc. "Exhibition of Paintings by Bonnard," March 1–24, 1934, no. 25 (as "The cup of coffee," 1924).
Stockholm. Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet. "Pierre Bonnard," March 1939, no. 23 (as "Le corsage vert," 1920).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Impressionist Epoch," December 12, 1974–February 10, 1975, not in catalogue [Venue title as published in The Met brochure].
Bellingham, Wash. Whatcom Museum of History and Art. "5000 Years of Art: An Exhibition from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," December 4, 1976–October 2, 1977, no. 75.
Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University Faculty of Arts and Science. "Changes in Perspective: 1880–1925," May 2–June 2, 1978, unnumbered cat. (p. 10).
Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux. "Profil du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York: de Ramsès à Picasso," May 15–September 1, 1981, no. 219 (as "Le Corsage vert").
San Diego Museum of Art. "5,000 Years of Art from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 10–December 6, 1981, brochure no. 70.
Urbana-Champaign. Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois. "5,000 Years of Art from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 3–February 28, 1982, brochure no. 70.
Mobile, Ala. Fine Arts Museum of the South. "5,000 Years of Art from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 28–May 9, 1982, brochure no. 70.
Midland, Mich. Midland Center for the Arts. "5,000 Years of Art from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 6–August 22, 1982, brochure no. 70.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "5,000 Years of Art from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 19–November 14, 1982, brochure no. 70.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Bonnard," December 14, 1984–March 10, 1985, no. 92 (as "La Blouse verte" or "La Tasse de café").
Frankfurt. Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut. "Bonnard," May 3–July 14, 1985, no. 92.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Two: Twentieth-Century Art," June 4–September 2, 1985, no catalogue.
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 29).
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Yokohama Museum of Art. "Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century," March 25–June 4, 1989, no. 152.
Humlebaek. Louisiana Museum. "Pierre Bonnard," September 11, 1992–January 10, 1993, no. 52 (as "La Blouse verte/La Tasse de café").
Düsseldorf. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. "Pierre Bonnard: Das Glück zu malen," January 23–April 12, 1993, no. 23.
Munich. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. "Bonnard," January 28–April 24, 1994, no. 80 (as "Die grüne Bluse" ["La blouse verte"] or "Die Tasse Kaffee" ["La tasse de café"]).
Nagoya. Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. "Pierre Bonnard," March 28–May 18, 1997, no. 59.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Pierre Bonnard," May 24–July 21, 1997, no. 59.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 40).
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," September 14–November 24, 2002, no. 36.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003, no. 36.
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "Pierre Bonnard: L'Œuvre d'art, un arrêt du temps," February 2–May 7, 2006, no. 52 (as "La Blouse verte [La Tasse de café]").
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 123.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat. (p. 245).
Claude Roger-Marx. Bonnard et son œuvre. Paris, 1924, ill. p. 37, calls it "Serre (Hot-house; Treibhaus)" and dates it 1915.
Maurice Denis. "L'Époque du Symbolisme." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6ème pér., 11 (March 1934), fig. 11, as "La Tasse de café".
Theodore Rousseau. "Reports of the Departments." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 22 (October 1963), pp. 66–68, ill., dates it 1924.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, p. 208, ill., date it probably 1919.
Jean and Henry Dauberville. Bonnard: Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint. Vol. 2, 1906–1919. Paris, 1968, p. 460, no. 979, ill., call it "La Blouse verte" or "La Tasse de café" and date it 1919.
Thomas Schlotterback. 5000 Years of Art: An Exhibition from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Whatcom Museum of History and Art. Bellingham, Wash., 1976, pp. 15, 102–3, no. 75, ill. (color and bw).
William S. Lieberman inProfil du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York: de Ramsès à Picasso. Exh. cat., Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux. Bordeaux, 1981, pp. 168–69, no. 219, ill.
Marianne Matta inBonnard. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich. Zurich, 1984, pp. 196–97, no. 92, ill. (color).
Terence Measham in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 29, ill. (color) and front cover (color), calls this picture "a reconstruction of a remembered moment"; identifies the seated woman as Maria Boursin, known as Marthe, the artist's future wife; comments that Marthe never ages in Bonnard's numerous portraits of her, adding that "here she scarcely looks her fifty years".
Lisa M. Messinger inTreasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Exh. cat., Yokohama Museum of Art. [Tokyo], 1989, p. 190, no. 152, ill. (color), identifies the seated woman as probably Marthe.
Helen Giambruni inPierre Bonnard: The Graphic Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, p. 92, fig. 124 (color), dates it about 1919.
Anette Kruszynski inPierre Bonnard: Das Glück zu malen. Exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf, 1993, p. 27.
Armin Zweite inPierre Bonnard: Das Glück zu malen. Exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf, 1993, pp. 130, 181, no. 23, ill. p. 132 (color).
Hidenori Kurita inPierre Bonnard. Ed. Hidenori Kurita et al. Exh. cat., Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. Nagoya, 1997, pp. 148–49, 245–46, no. 59, ill. (color) and front cover (color).
Grace Glueck. "When One City Was the Heart of Art's Youth." New York Times (March 10, 2000), p. E39.
Suzanne Pagé et al. Pierre Bonnard: The Work of Art, Suspending Time. Ed. Suzanne Pagé. Exh. cat., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Ghent, 2006, pp. 182–83, 318–19, no. 52, ill. (color), states that it was painted during a trip to the French Riviera and identifies the seated woman as Marthe.
Sabine Rewald inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 165, 181–82, no. 123, ill. (color and bw), identifies the figure on the left as an attendant or maid.
Sabine Rewald inMasterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 195, 215, no. 180, ill. (color and bw).
Rika Burnham inPierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors. Ed. Dita Amory. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, p. 75, fig. 58 (color).
Laurence Castany. Dans la maison de Bonnard. Paris, 2012, p. 149, ill. p. 84 (color), calls it "La Blouse verte" or "La Tasse de café".
Pierre Bonnard (French, Fontenay-aux-Roses 1867–1947 Le Cannet)
1930
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