Siesta

Painted in 1900 and held at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, this siesta scene belongs to Bonnard's early treatments of rest and private domestic inactivity. The siesta — a figure lying still in the heat of midday — is at once a Mediterranean subject and an intimiste one: the private withdrawal into temporary unconsciousness within the domestic environment. The National Gallery of Victoria's holding represents the Australian institution's sustained engagement with Post-Impressionism; Bonnard's works found collectors internationally from early in his career. The 1900 date places the work at a moment when Bonnard was transitioning from the strictest Nabi approach toward a more relaxed, atmospheric handling.

The horizontal reclining form creates a calm, restful compositional axis. Warm domestic colours of bedding and interior light are rendered with a quiet, subdued palette appropriate to the somnolent subject. The surrounding domestic environment is gently present.