Les faunes

Les Faunes, painted in 1905 and now in the Villa Flora collection in Winterthur, Switzerland, depicts fauns — the half-human, half-goat creatures of classical mythology — in a pastoral or forest setting. The subject connects Bonnard unexpectedly to the mythological tradition: as a Nabi painter he had explored decorative panels and screens with pastoral fantasy subjects, and fauns provided an opportunity to revisit classical antiquity through the Post-Impressionist color vocabulary of his mature style. The Villa Flora in Winterthur, which focused on French art from Cézanne through the twentieth century, held a remarkable private collection assembled by the Hahnloser family.

Oil on canvas with Bonnard's decorative sensibility applied to mythological fantasy — the fauns' semi-animal bodies integrated into a lush forest setting through the same bold color areas and patterned surfaces he used for domestic interiors. The mythological subject allows freedom from observed reality that his domestic paintings surrender to intimate observation.