Pierre Bonnard (French: 

[bɔnaʁ]; 3 October 1867 – 23 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator

and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use
of color.[1] A founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis,[2] his
early work was strongly influenced by the work of Paul Gauguin, as well as the prints of Hokusai and
other Japanese artists. Bonnard was a leading figure in the transition from Impressionism to
Modernism. He painted landscapes, urban scenes, portraits and intimate domestic scenes, where the
backgrounds, colors and painting style usually took precedence over the subject.[3][4] Pierre Bonnard
was born in Fontenay-aux-Roses, Hauts-de-Seine on 3 October 1867. His mother, Élisabeth
Mertzdorff, was from Alsace. His father, Eugène Bonnard, was from the Dauphiné, and was a senior
official in the French Ministry of War. He had a brother, Charles, and a sister, Andrée, who in 1890
married the composer Claude Terrasse.[5]

He received his education in the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and Lycée Charlemagne in Vanves. He showed
a talent for drawing and water colors, as well as caricatures. He painted frequently in the gardens of his
parent's country home at Le Grand-Lemps near La Côte-Saint-André in the Dauphiné. He also showed
a strong interest in literature.[6] He received his baccalaureate in the classics, and, to satisfy his father,
between 1886 and 1887 earned his license in law, and began practicing as a lawyer beginning in 1888.
[7][8]

While he was studying law, he also attended art classes at the Académie Julian in Paris.[9][10] At the
Académie Julien he met his future friends and fellow artists, Paul Sérusier, Maurice Denis, Gabriel
Ibels and Paul Ranson.[11]

In 1888 Bonnard was accepted by the École des Beaux-Arts, where he met Édouard Vuillard and Ker
Xavier Roussel. He also sold his first commercial work of art, a design for poster for France-
Champagne, which helped him convince his family that he could make a living as an artist. He set up
his first studio at on rue Lechapelais and began his career as an artist.[11]