Place le soir c. 1897 - 1899

Curator: Walking towards us, seemingly from nowhere, a young woman animates this atmospheric lithograph by Pierre Bonnard, entitled "Place le soir." Bonnard likely completed this color print sometime between 1897 and 1899. Editor: A lone figure dissolving into the night… Or perhaps emerging? I find myself caught between the melancholic hush and an expectant kind of waiting. Like holding my breath before something happens. Curator: Bonnard's interest in the city, but here he gives us this odd juxtaposition of a faceless figure approaching while a crowd of spectators stands off in the background. The Art Nouveau style, you can feel its organic, flowing lines…It gives the urban space this slightly surreal quality, almost like a stage set. Editor: Definitely theatrical. Is it just me, or do the smudges and blotches feel intentional, even poignant? The darkness isn’t just absence; it almost has a texture. Those flashes of red seem incredibly important, like an echo through the dark palette. Are those flowers or maybe theatre seats? It really captures that feeling of being both anonymous and intensely alive within the city. Curator: Perhaps Bonnard is implying the duality of urban life - anonymity alongside spectacle, a shared space with personal experiences. We need to remember that at the time, the concept of public space was rapidly shifting, shaped by everything from department stores to the café culture, influencing artistic expression and representation of Parisian modernity. Editor: Which makes me wonder… Is the woman aware of the "audience" to her left? Is she stepping into something or away? There is such wonderful ambiguity and freedom in that open-ended question. Curator: It makes the lithograph something we project onto, like a half-remembered dream. "Place le Soir" is, I think, Bonnard at his most perceptive when it comes to capturing not just what we see but what we *feel* in the urban landscape. Editor: It feels incomplete in a way that fills me up completely, so yeah, spot on.