Man of the 19th and 20th centuries, the personality of Bonnard was shaped between the end of Impressionism, the Nabi movement of which he was one of the main characters, to then free himself from any artistic movement and any convention developing a very personal image. His sensitive gaze on the world then predominates in which an enchanted, vibrant and luminous nature opposes reality. Beneath an appearance of quiet simplicity, Bonnard's work reveals itself to be complex, full of nuances and as if detached from time.

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This rhythmic vision between Paris, Normandy and the South, will stimulate and nourish the greatest, from Matisse to Balthus through the young generation of post-war French and American abstraction, represented in particular by Bazaine, Sam Francis or Rothko.