Madame Émile Bernheim

Bonnard's portrait of Madame Émile Bernheim places him within his long relationship with the Bernheim-Jeune gallery, which became his principal dealer from around 1906 onward. Émile Bernheim and his brother Josse ran the gallery that handled Bonnard, Vuillard, Matisse, and others, and commissioning portraits from their represented artists was part of the social bond that tied dealers and painters together in this period. Madame Bernheim was a prominent figure in the Parisian art world, and a formal portrait would have been a prestige commission. Bonnard's treatment of the commission portrait was always somewhat resistant—he was more comfortable with the unguarded informality of Marthe or his friends than with the formal demands of portraiture, and this tension can sometimes be felt in his commissioned works.

The portrait follows a relatively conventional three-quarter format, though Bonnard's characteristic loosening of the boundary between figure and setting is evident. The sitter's dress and the surrounding interior are drawn into a shared decorative field. Paint is applied with more care and deliberation in the face than in the background, where Bonnard allows himself more freedom.