In a boat

Painted in 1907 and held at the Musée d'Orsay, this boating scene on a river or lake belongs to Bonnard's exploration of outdoor leisure subjects in the years when he was regularly spending time at Vernonnet on the Seine. A boat on still water — figures moving slowly in intimate enclosure, surrounded by reflected landscape — offered a subject that combined the intimacy of domestic space with the open air. By 1907 Bonnard's colour had become considerably richer than his early Nabi work, and the reflective surface of water provided additional chromatic possibilities through reflected sky and foliage. The Orsay's holding connects this work to the canon of French modern leisure painting.

The boat and its occupants are placed low in the composition, the surrounding water and reflected landscape creating a chromatic field around the intimate domestic grouping. Greens and blues of the water dominate, with warm ochre accents from the boat's wood and the figures' clothing.