Woman with Mimosa

Painted in 1924 and held at the Metropolitan Museum, this work joins the female figure to the mimosa — the intensely yellow flowering tree of the Côte d'Azur that Bonnard would paint repeatedly during his Le Cannet years. By 1924 he was spending significant time in the South, and the mimosa's flowering in February against cool southern skies had become associated in his mind with the specific chromatic world of the Midi in winter transitioning to spring. The combination of a female figure and a vase of flowers represents one of Bonnard's most characteristic compositional strategies: two subjects — portraiture and still life — merged into a single chromatic field where the human form and the botanical specimen are equally part of the decorative scheme. His fellow Nabi Vuillard had developed a similar strategy but with more muted results; Bonnard's chromatic ambition was always greater, his willingness to push colour beyond descriptive function more extreme. The Metropolitan's extensive Bonnard holdings allow this work to be read within the broader development of his mature style.

Brilliant chrome yellow of the mimosa provides the composition's dominant chromatic note, against which the figure's warmer flesh tones and the cool background register. The brushwork is varied — more controlled on the figure, freer in the flower cluster.