In 1911 Bonnard made three separate trips to Saint-Tropez, on the Mediterranean coast of France, which was still a small fishing port. He probably painted this work during his second visit in the summer, when he stayed with his friend the artist Paul Signac. The old port, with its narrow streets, is seen from the place de la Mairie through an opening between two shuttered buildings facing the quay. Several figures are discernible in the street: the forms of all but the central one, cast in purple shadow, are diffused by the light.
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Artwork Details
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Title:View of The Old Port, Saint-Tropez
Artist:Pierre Bonnard (French, Fontenay-aux-Roses 1867–1947 Le Cannet)
Date:1911
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:33 1/8 in. × 34 in. (84.1 × 86.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982
Object Number:1984.433.1
Inscription: Signed (lower left): Bonnard
[Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, from 1911; purchased from the artist]; Aurélien Lugné Poë, Paris; [Galerie Druet, Paris, until 1923, stock no. 10165; sold on July 12, 1923, for $1,500, to Thayer]; Scofield Thayer, Vienna and New York (1923–d. 1982; on extended loan to the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass., as part of the Dial Collection, 1936–82; his bequest to MMA)
Paris. MM. Bernheim Jeune & Cie. "Bonnard: Œuvres récentes," June 17–July 6, 1912.
New York. Montross Gallery. "Original Paintings, Drawings, and Engravings Being Exhibited with the Dial Folio 'Living Art'," January 26–February 14, 1924, no catalogue (typed checklist no. 12; as "St. Tropez").
Worcester Art Museum. "Exhibition of the Dial Collection of Paintings, Engravings, and Drawings by Contemporary Artists," March 5–30, 1924, no. 3 (as "St. Tropez").
Northampton, Mass. Hillyer Art Gallery, Smith College. "The Dial Collection," May 1924, no catalogue.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Prints by Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard," December 15, 1938–January 15, 1939, no. 23 (as "St. Tropez," lent by the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts).
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Pierre Bonnard," March 3–April 11, 1948, no. 51 (as "Saint-Tropez," anonymous loan through the courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Pierre Bonnard," May 10–September 6, 1948, no. 51.
Worcester Art Museum. "The Dial and the Dial Collection," April 30–September 8, 1959, no. 3 (as "St. Tropez").
Worcester Art Museum. "Selections from the Dial Collection," November 13–30, 1965, unnum. checklist (as "St. Tropez").
Worcester Art Museum. "The Dial Revisited," June 29–August 22, 1971, no catalogue (as "St. Tropez").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Two: Twentieth-Century Art," June 4–September 2, 1985, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Three: Twentieth-Century Art," October 22, 1985–January 26, 1986, no catalogue.
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 26; as "Saint-Tropez").
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Humlebaek. Louisiana Museum. "Pierre Bonnard," September 11, 1992–January 10, 1993, no. 27 (as "Vue d'un port méditerranéen [Saint-Tropez]").
Düsseldorf. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. "Pierre Bonnard: Das Glück zu malen," January 23–April 12, 1993, no. 13 (as "Vue d'un port méditerranéen, Saint-Tropez").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 78; as "View of the Old Port, Saint Tropez").
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Méditerranée, de Courbet à Matisse," September 19, 2000–January 15, 2001, no. 4 (as "Le Port de Saint-Tropez").
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," September 14–November 24, 2002, no. 29.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003, no. 29.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 121.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat. (p. 242).
Le Cannet. Musée Bonnard. "Bonnard and Le Cannet. In the Mediterranean Light," June 25–September 25, 2011, no. 5 (as "Le Port de Saint-Tropez").
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947). Peindre l'Arcadie," March 17–July 19, 2015, no. 2 (as "Décor à Vernon" dit aussi "La Terrasse à Vernon"; 1920–1939).
Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Pierre Bonnard: Painting Arcadia," February 6–May 15, 2016, unnumbered cat. (fig. 1).
National Palace Museum. "From Impressionism to Early Modernism: French Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 14, 2025–October 12, 2025.
National Museum of Korea. "From Impressionism to Early Modernism: French Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 14, 2025–March 15, 2026.
François Fosca. Bonnard. Geneva, 1919, pl. XXII, as "Entrée de Port-Provence".
"Originals of the Dial Folio of Living Art at Montross." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (February 3, 1924), p. 26.
"Modern Art Spirit Seen in Collection." Worcester Daily Telegram (March 6, 1924), p. 4.
Dial 79 (July 1925), ill. frontispiece (color), as "Le Port à Saint-Tropez".
André Fontainas. Bonnard. Paris, [1928], unpaginated, ill., as "Bas quartiers d'un port de mer".
François-Joachim Beer. Pierre Bonnard. Marseilles, 1947, pl. 85, as "Bas quartier d'un port".
John Rewald. Pierre Bonnard. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. New York, 1948, p. 140, no. 51, dates it about 1925–30.
Rolf Söderberg. Pierre Bonnard. Stockholm, 1949, ill. p. 45.
Louisa Dresser inThe Dial and the Dial Collection. Exh. cat., Worcester Art Museum. Worcester, Mass., 1959, p. 58, no. 3, notes that an inscription on this painting's stretcher reads: "Entrée de Port (1911, St. Tropez)".
Jean and Henry Dauberville. Bonnard: Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint. Vol. 2, 1906–1919. Paris, 1968, p. 235, no. 660, ill., call it "Vue d'un port méditerranéen" and date it 1911.
Nicholas Joost. "The Dial Collection: Tastes and Trends of the 'Twenties." Apollo 94 (December 1971), p. 488, colorpl. X, calls it "St. Tropez" and dates it about 1920.
Steven A. Nash inBonnard: The Late Paintings. Ed. Sasha M. Newman. Exh. cat., Paris Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou. Washington, 1984, p. 21, fig. 5, as "Vue d'un port méditerranéen"; discusses the influence of Matisse's "Open Window, Collioure" (1905; National Gallery of Art, Washington) on this picture.
Lisa M. Messinger in "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1984–1985. New York, 1985, pp. 45–46, ill. (color), as "Saint-Tropez"; notes that Bonnard visited Saint-Tropez in March, July, and October 1911, and tentatively dates this painting to the summer trip, when Bonnard stayed with Signac.
Terence Measham in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 26, ill. (color), states that this painting was first exhibited in Paris in May 1911.
Gary Tinterow et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe. New York, 1987, p. 83, colorpl. 60, as "Saint-Tropez".
John Dorsey. "New Wing Lifts the Met Into the 20th Century." Sun (Baltimore, Md.) (February 1, 1987), p. 12K, calls it "Saint Tropez".
Michel Terrasse. Bonnard at Le Cannet. New York, 1988, ill. p. 10 (color), as "Le port de Saint-Tropez (Saint-Tropez Harbor)".
Anette Kruszynski inPierre Bonnard: Das Glück zu malen. Exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf, 1993, pp. 26–27, 181, no. 13, ill. p. 131 (color).
Jacqueline Henry inMéditerranée de Courbet à Matisse. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 2000, p. 174, no. 4, ill. and colorpl. 72, identifies the scene as the port viewed from the place de la Mairie.
Françoise Cachin inMéditerranée de Courbet à Matisse. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 2000, p. 62.
Antoine Terrasse. Bonnard: Shimmering Color. New York, 2000, pp. 63, 139, ill. (color), as "View of the Port of Saint-Tropez".
Sabine Rewald inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 163, 180–81, no. 121, ill. (color and bw).
Sabine Rewald inMasterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 193, 214, no. 178, ill. (color and bw).
Casilda Ybarra Satrústegui inPierre Bonnard: 1867-1947. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Madrid, 2015, p. 177, no. 49, ill. p. 179 (color).
Sabine Rewald inObsession: Nudes by Klimt, Schiele and Picasso from the Scofield Thayer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. New York, 2018, pp. 35, 114, 116, fig. 52 (color).
Elsa Smithgall with Lisa Lipinski in George T. M. Shackelford with Elsa Smithgall. Bonnard's Worlds. Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum. Fort Worth, 2023, p. 80, fig. 18 (color).
Pierre Bonnard (French, Fontenay-aux-Roses 1867–1947 Le Cannet)
1930
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