The Goatherd (recto)

• Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)
• 1945–1946
• Pencil and colored chalk on cream wove paper (from sketchbook)
• Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
• (1975.1.570)

Pierre Bonnard entered the art world in 1888 as a member of the Nabis, a group that sought a new kind of painting emphasizing emotion and decorative color. This work is thought to be a sketch from his final years, around the end of the World War II, after the death of his lifelong muse and wife, Marthe. Although the scene of a goat, a herder, and a seated figure at left appears pastoral, the page is filled with swirling, turbulent lines that create an atmosphere of unease and frenzy, rare in Bonnard’s work.