Pierre Bonnard was the master of a loose sort of airy drawing.  The drawing above was a study for his painting of the  Dining Room Overlooking the Garden (La Salle à manger sur le jardin) that I wrote about in an earlier post (in regard to little copies I made of some of the details of the painting when it was exhibited at the Phillips Collection in Washington).

Almost everything Bonnard had to say about art he said with paint, but he does also have a few spare collected thoughts rendered as words, among which we find this advice: “Every painter must find in his “elements” of work, resources, reminders from which to draw from.  He only needs to look until he finds those which are true to his expression, to his usual needs, but there again the role of the unexpected is great.”

“Tout peintre doit trouver dans ses éléments de travail des ressources, des rappels, parmis lesquels il peut puiser.  Il n’a qu’à chercher jusqu’à ce qu’il trouve ceux qui sont conformes à son expression, à ses besoins habituels.  Mais là encore la part de l’inattendu est grande.”

The scribbly-ness of a drawing like this I find so beautiful.  It is as though he has captured the light that everywhere surrounds things.  And further Bonnard has found something quiet and sparkling and private in the moments of everyday life.

[Top of the post:  Drawing for La Salle à manger sur le jardin, by Pierre Bonnard, pencil]