A Little Breakfast

In the painting we present today, Pierre Bonnard captures his lifelong companion and muse, Marthe de Meligny, bathed in radiant morning light. Seated at a breakfast table, Marthe lifts a teacup amid a feast of apples, oranges, grapes, bread, and a shining silver teapot. A copper-colored dachshund rests faithfully at her feet. The scene glows with domestic tranquility—an intimate glimpse of everyday life, likely set in Bonnard’s country home in Vernonnet, near Giverny.

By 1917, Bonnard’s mastery of color had become his signature, and it is visible in this painting. The morning sun drenches the room in golden light: Marthe’s poppy-red dressing gown blazes against the yellow-orange glow of the windows, her caramel hair reflects hues of scarlet and turquoise, and even the white tablecloth vibrates with strokes of lavender and blue.

Bonnard’s fascination with color began early with the Nabis, an avant-garde group that included Maurice Denis, Édouard Vuillard, and Paul Sérusier. Inspired by Gauguin and Van Gogh, the Nabis rejected traditional perspective and celebrated the flatness of the canvas. Although the group dissolved by 1917, Bonnard continued to push color, pattern, and form into new realms of expressive freedom.

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P.P.S. There's nothing like a coffee in the morning. Here are 10 paintings that capture coffee's cultural impact.