La Toilette

Artistic improvements and commentary courtesy of Wimsey Bloodhound

La Toilette (Pierre Bonnard 1908, Musee d’Orsay, Paris). Here we have a spectacular nude—she is actually of the artist’s wife, as Bonnard seems to have lived the kind of happy, prosperous life not generally associated with the Parisian art scene. Also unusual for for his time, is the fact that Bonnard’s work does not fall neatly into a prevailing style or school, but he did generally like painting intimate, enclosed spaces. In this painting, we ourselves become part of the action as we see the lady as if we have surprised her at her toilette. Bonnard uses the frames of the mirrors and doorway as well as the texture of the wallpaper to give us a feeling of the small enclosed and intimate space of which he was so fond. The pearly tones of the painting are echoed in the glowing skin of the figure. But the painting, for all its beauty has a major flaw. Bonnard omitted a crucial element in the painting whose restoration makes the picture much more realistic. Who ever heard of a human being permitted to use the bathroom in the absence of a giant inquisitive Hound? See how the presence of the Magnificent Hound adds a verisimilitude to the painting that was otherwise lacking. The Hound is there to observe and to supervise and to make sure the human does not somehow escape using a secret tunnel in the bathroom. We are sure that the pearly skin of the model is owing to a fine coating of drool that the Hound has generously shared. (“La Toilette Avec Wimsey”).