Cats in Art: Afternoon Bourgeous (Bonnard)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  You really should check out and/or own both of these wonderful works, easily available on Amazon or eBay (and I have no financial interest).

The bride and I just returned from a wonderful vacation in France where we were privileged to see both the Louvre and Orsay Museums.  Of the two, the Orsay was much better--less crowded, could get closer to the paintings, more cats.

This is the fourth of several posts on the cat art of Pierre Bonnard.

Image credit Gary of painting at the Orsay Museum, A Bourgeois Afternoon or the Terrasse Family), Pierre Bonnard, 1900, oil on canvas, 55" × 83", held by Orsay Museum, Paris, France.

And the close-up of the three cats:

My impression from standing right in front of the wonderful painting was its size and detail.  It's nearly 5 feet high and 7 wide...now that's a canvas!  And the more I looked at it, the more detail I saw.  There are at least 13 people engaged in many actions, along with at least 6 animals.

The superbly rendered expression on the striped cat's face is priceless...again, evidence that Bonnard was a real cat expert who could capture feline nuances on his canvases.

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]