Work Table

Painted in 1931 and held at the National Gallery of Art, this still life of a work table with its accumulated objects reflects Bonnard's interest in the working domestic surface as a subject for chromatic exploration. The work table — covered with tools, papers, and the varied objects of daily creative life — was a subject that combined the still life tradition with the intimiste interest in the lived domestic environment. By 1931 Bonnard's still life practice was at its most ambitious; the table surface with its jumble of objects was treated with the same chromatic rigour he brought to the dining table or the garden view.

The work table's accumulated objects are arranged with characteristic Bonnard spatial ambiguity — the table surface tipping toward the picture plane. Varied objects create a rich field of chromatic incident. The palette is warm and varied, the still life surface built through accumulated colour relationships.