In the film by Martin Provost, Claude Monet and Pierre Bonnard hunt for water lilies

The naked muse of the famous French artist suffered from asthma and was demonically jealous in the water

The premiere of “The Nude Muse of Pierre Bonnard,” directed by Martin Provost, took place almost a year ago at the Cannes Film Festival in the “Cannes Premieres” section. A very modest picture was awarded such a part, most likely thanks to the main character – the outstanding French artist Pierre Bonnard. He ended his days nearby in Le Cannet in 1947, five years after the death of his “naked muse” Marthe.

Bonnard had a house on the Cote d’Azur, where he spent about 20 years. One of his paintings is called “Port in Cannes”. It is difficult for festival selectors to avoid the temptation to record such coincidences.

In March the Hermitage held “Bonnar Day” – the Russian premiere of the film took place Martin Provost and excursions “Paintings by Pierre Bonnard and the artists of the Nabis group in the Hermitage collection”, benefit of the collection museum – the second in scale after the Paris Orsay Museum. These are views of Paris, rural landscapes of France, the triptych “Mediterranean Sea”, commissioned by the Russian collector I.A. Morozov for his Moscow mansion.

.The Musée d’Orsay presents a magnificent collection of Bonnard’s works, and they are hung as if we were present at the artist’s personal exhibition. In addition to the named halls, his works can be seen next to paintings by other masters, which sometimes gives them an unexpected perspective.

Martin Provost is not only a director, but also an actor, although he does not work with his fellow professionals as skillfully as one might expect. He feels actresses better, and they are more subtle and accurate than male actors. This is evident in his directorial opuses “Me and You” with Catherine Deneuve and “Violette” with Emmanuelle Devaux. In 2008, Provost won France’s main film award, the César, for Seraphine of Senlis, about the primitivist artist Seraphine Louis. His new biopic chronicles the life of one of France’s leading artists.

Pierre Bonnard comes from the family of a high-ranking official. His parents dreamed of a legal career for their son, but he found another calling, although he studied law while studying at the Academy of Arts. Bonnard became a member of the Nabi art association, but then went his own way. He survived the First and Second World Wars, was able to avoid mobilization, but was later sent to the front, from where he returned a different person, by his own admission.

Bonnard’s muse and model was the 24-year-old flower girl and seamstress from the funeral home, Marthe de Meligny (aka Marie Boutsen). Her real biography may differ from the one presented in the Provost film. Bonnard met Martha on the street. He was then 26 years old, although on the screen we see 45-year-old actor Vincent Macken, who has some portrait resemblance to his hero, but at a more mature age.

Bonnard’s friend Claude Monet was played by 75-year-old Andre Marcon. The characters come to visit each other by boat, no matter that it took two hours. But Claude Monet saw marvelous lilies along the way, which he later captured, exchanging the feast with friends for work at an easel by the river.

Martha, performed by Cecile de France (“The Young Pope”, “Rebels”, “After Me”), is also far from a young lady. The characters live a 30-year life together on screen, practically unchanged, except that they achieve age identity closer to the end. Even after years of their life together, Bonnard portrayed Martha as young and beautiful. Her body did not age in his paintings. Martha’s image appears in almost 400 of Bonnard’s works. She will be replaced by a younger model. Rene Monchati was played by 34-year-old Stacy Martin (“Young Godard”, “Nymphomaniac”). Thanks to this meeting, the artist will again feel a taste for life. However, his new muse committed suicide in the bathroom in which he once captured her in the painting “Nude in a Bathroom.”

Bonnard also depicted his sick muse Martha, who suffered from asthma, in the bathroom. A young model will ask her a question: “Are you a woman dozing on the bed?” Bonnard always has an easel at the ready. Martha never disappears from his field of vision.

And she was constantly consumed by jealousy, as soon as an attractive woman appeared on the horizon. One of the scenes of jealousy is picturesque and beautiful to the point of sweetness – the rivals enter a pond with water lilies. Isn’t this a canvas in the spirit of the magnificent colorist Bonnard? But it is impossible to accuse him of excessiveness.

Pierre Bonnard lived to old age, outliving his muses. 20 years later, the painting he painted in Rome during a romantic trip with Rene returned to him. She was discovered by workers behind a closet in an apartment seized after the girl’s suicide. The painting was without authorship, but that’s why there are experts who can distinguish the artist’s handwriting. Martin Provost, without meaning to, treated him mercilessly, turning him into an unattractive and faded character.