Workers 1920

Curator: I am struck by how this piece evokes a sense of urban anomie, the figures adrift and disconnected. There’s a pronounced social stratification implied between those workers in the foreground on the right, and the well-to-do walking along the embankment. It’s all rendered with a disquieting neutrality. Editor: Yes, an unsettling calm pervades Bonnard's "Workers" from 1920. Painted with oil on canvas, the scene is split diagonally, opposing a bourgeois cityscape with labor at work in a post-impressionist manner. Initially, my attention is drawn to the unusual composition—that sharp divide is immediately striking, bisecting two seemingly unrelated activities and social groups. Curator: Absolutely. Bonnard sets up an interesting duality. The figures are divided and seem psychologically unaware of one another. There is a certain detachment here. Those plumes of vapor, billowing into the sky, visually isolate them. Is it possible to interpret them symbolically as shrouds, hiding their pain and toil, almost an act of deception or obfuscation, as to the true cost of social stability. Editor: I see what you mean. And, on the right side of the composition the white cloud and scaffolding is mirrored on the left, drawing the viewer’s eyes up to the city sky, and reflecting a type of abstract harmony between both the social classes—it seems as though all of them need each other despite them all being separated and distanced in space and activity. Bonnard's fragmented strokes of color work to obscure the forms themselves, pushing towards something abstracted yet cohesive at the same time. There is even a visual rhyme created through color with all of the characters depicted. The pinks are echoed to and fro, between both the lower and the upper classes which really allows me to believe this might have been his intentions, or some possible interpretations of harmony between classes. Curator: Yes, the limited palette certainly binds them visually. The vapor seems to represent the force of labor in general, clouding everyone’s outlook with industry’s costs. I am struck with this sense of continuity of cultural themes despite changes on the surfaces. Editor: Indeed, Bonnard masterfully captures a mood that still resonates. The tension between formal elements and subject matter makes for a compelling viewing experience, one that stays with you long after you’ve moved on.