Woman with an Umbrella

Early in his career Pierre Bonnard made Woman with an Umbrella for the literary and art journal La Revue blanche. The model was Marthe de Méligny, a timid florist's assistant whom the artist met late in 1893 and who soon became his muse. Contemporaries described her as having a skipping step on heels as high and thin as a bird's feet. Here Bonnard successfully captures Marthe's delicate figure and distinctive posture while effectively presenting a modern Parisian woman.