A Spring Landscape

Painted in 1923 and held at the National Gallery of Art, this spring landscape is characteristic of Bonnard's seasonal landscape exploration during the early 1920s when he was moving between Vernonnet and the South. The spring landscape subject — with its particular chromatic qualities of pale greens, cool blues, and the first flowering — provided a seasonal counterpoint to the high-summer intensity of his garden works. By 1923 Bonnard's palette had reached a consistent chromatic richness that he applied across all subjects; even the relative restraint of a spring landscape in his hands produces a work of considerable colour ambition.

The spring light creates a cool, fresh chromatic environment of pale greens, blues, and the white-pink of flowering trees. The composition is open, with the landscape receding through colour temperature. The brushwork is freely applied, building the seasonal atmosphere with varied mark-making.