Claude Monet and Marthe Bonnard in the Dining Room at Giverny

In 1911, Pierre Bonnard bought a property called La Roulotte, located in Vernonnet, a few miles from Giverny. He often stayed there until 1936, when he moved permanently to Le Cannet, where he had bought a property in 1926. In Normandy, Claude Monet and Pierre Bonnard were friends and shared a mutual admiration. Bonnard went to Giverny several times, as can be seen from their correspondence and many photographs. The opinion of his younger friend was important to Monet, as shown in a letter dating back to when he was working on his Grand Decorations, a series of mural-sized paintings on the theme of water lilies, for the Musée de l’Orangerie: "I would be very happy to see you, and if you have a free moment today, that would suit me well, because I would like to show you where I am with my water lilies" (Letter from Claude Monet to Pierre Bonnard, Giverny, Wednesday 26 [April 1916], private collection).
But, apart from the drawing Claude Monet and Marthe Bonnard in the Dining Room at Giverny, we do not know of any other work, painted or drawn, that recalls this important artistic friendship. This rare sketch, showing Claude Monet in his dining room at Giverny with Marthe Bonnard at his side, is significant not just for its artistic quality—Bonnard, who drew constantly, had become a master of his art—but also because it shows a moment of exchange between two great French artists.

Marina Ferretti