The Letter

Painted in 1906 and held at the National Gallery of Art, this intimate figure scene of a woman reading a letter is among Bonnard's treatments of a subject with a long history in European domestic painting — from Vermeer through the nineteenth century. The letter as subject implies narrative: a message received, perhaps unexpected, creating a moment of private absorption within the domestic environment. By 1906 Bonnard's colour was becoming considerably richer than his early Nabi work, and the single figure absorbed in reading offered a subject that combined psychological intimacy with the opportunity for chromatic exploration of indoor light on a female figure.

The figure absorbed in reading creates a contained, inward compositional mood. Warm indoor light falls on the figure and the white letter she holds, creating a focus of light within the surrounding domestic environment. The handling is more fluid than the early Nabi works.