Intimisme

About Intimisme

Description of Intimisme
Examples of Intimisme
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Intimisme
Term applied to paintings depicting everyday life in domestic interiors, usually referring to the work of PIERRE BONNARD and EDOUARD VUILLARD. It was first used in the 1890s, although the type of paintings to which it refers had been produced earlier by such artists as Johannes Vermeer and Jean-Siméon Chardin. The intimiste style is aptly characterized by André Gide’s comment on Vuillard’s four decorative panels, Figures and Interiors (1896; Paris, Petit Pal.), that the artist was ‘speaking in a low tone, suitable to confidences’ (‘Promenade au Salon d’Automne’, Gaz. B.-A., xxxiv, 1905, p. 582). Bonnard and Vuillard were both members of the mystical brotherhood of the NABIS, but their commitment to the esoteric, symbolist side of the Nabi aesthetic was not as strong as their interest in the group’s technical ideas on painting, and often their subject-matter was tranquil, bourgeois interiors. An example is Bonnard’s Le Déjeuner (1899; Zurich, Stift. Samml. Bührle), in which the technique owes much to Impressionism, though, influenced by the theory of Paul Sérusier, the leader of the Nabis, more muted colours are employed. Their interest in decoration and pattern is evident, and the figures in their paintings often merge with the décor of their interiors, which in turn reflect the contemporary taste for rich patterned effects, as in Vuillard’s Mother and Sister of the Artist (1893; New York, MOMA). Even when dealing with exterior scenes, Bonnard and Vuillard often create a sense of domestic intimacy (e.g. Vuillard’s The Park, 1894; New York, priv. col.; see Preston, p. 60). Vuillard’s style remained predominantly intimiste throughout his career, whereas Bonnard’s later paintings exhibit a more expansive approach with a use of brighter colours; nevertheless, some of the latter’s late paintings (e.g. Nu dans le bain, 1936; Paris, Petit Pal.) still retain the intimiste quality of his earlier works. (hide)

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